Harry Potter and the Power of Love
by DarkysteKnyghte
Summary: Removed by FanFiction for no good reason, this reboot is to grab their attention and to explain to those who were reading it what happened.
1. Chapter 1

Hey Guys,

As many of you may have noticed, Harry Potter and the Power of Love has been removed. FanFiction claims it violates the rating system (which is preposterous, as it is an M rated fic, which basically implies 'anything goes'.)

The disappearance of the story happened just a day after a guest left a rather obnoxious review, and I guess this anonymous person got ticked off when they noticed that I had removed their comment, and complained to the site owners that the story was inappropriate, and they removed it, without bothering to actually validate this claim or to see if it were true.

I have contacted them and asked for them to restore it, two days ago, via the email they have listed on their front page, support , but still have received no answer.

I'm disappointed that they would delete a story without caring to check on whether it actually deserved to be flagged. To me, 50+ reviews, 150 favorites, and over 200 follows seemed like a considerable amount of publicity. Even if they can't restore it to the original status, the least they could do is send me the story contents (I deleted chapters 1 and 3 in my haste) so I can continue it elsewhere, on a site less quick to jump the gun and erase 8 chapters of hard work that took months to compile.

So, bottom line, if any of you liked my story and want it back, please email FanFiction and ask them to restore it.

Operating on a piece of advice given to me by one of the better advisors of my story, StarIron, I have to ask, did anyone copy my story? I don't care if you did, I'd just like chapters 1 and 3 back, cause I deleted them in my stupidity.

Quick final question: If a story is deleted, can FanFiction restore it back to the original, with all the favorites and followings and reviews? This was my first fanfic, and it took a lot of effort. All the attention seemed like a big deal to me.

And I close with a limerick:

_There once was a nerd from New Jersey,_

_Who was bored, and loved to be versey._

_And this nerd took it upon himself, _

_To write stories like those on his shelf._

_So the nerd joined the website Fanfiction,_

_To find he had something called diction,_

_And he took the name of DarkysteKnyghte, _

_A name he thought would inspire fright._

_He thought that the name made him sound cool _

_(Though he'd be teased for that name at school)_

_By the bright of day, young DarkysteKnyghte_

_Would sit in front of his desk and write_

_He reimagined Jo Rowling's work,_

_Of the boy with a magical quirk,_

_Where Harry had lived two dozen lives,_

_And with each death drawn hundreds of cries._

_It went up in ratings and reviews,_

_For the writer, this all was good news_

_Then, he woke one day to discover,_

_His work was gone, moved by none other_

_Than Fanfiction, the site he had praised._

_His work was gone, Site owners unfazed,_

_Stating it violates it's rating,_

_Yet 'twas M, for his future cravings._

_The labor was hard, with none to reap,_

_And then the author went home to weep,_

_His first work, his pride, gone up in the mist,_

_Or lying in an email abyss._

_And now FanFiction, it's up to you,_

_Whether he will stay or bid adieu._

_If not, then you leave him feeling Blue,_

_With one message: Dear Fanfic, _ you._


	2. Thanks Fanfic

**Harry Potter and the Power of Love**

_This is what I was working on so far. You guys tell me whether you find any questionable content that is inappropriate for the M rating I gave it._

_I also found something that was kind of a sick form of ironic joke:_

_Sorry it took so long for another update, it's just I wanted to make this next chapter perfect, and I've had a tedious little thing called school. On the plus side, this chapter is three times longer than any of the past ones._

_I've also come to the realization this will end in one of three ways:_

_The fic becomes so stupid, and people will drop it, and I don't get paid for it._

_I become too disgusted with the fic, and drop it, and I don't get paid for it._

_My Huge Mythos is created loosely from the Harry Potter Series, with lots of people who will enjoy my writing, and I don't get paid for it._

_Cheers_

_Guess I didn't foresee the fourth option, where FanFiction removes my story without warrant._

(Chapter one, Trelawney's Prediction, is missing, due to my deleting it in haste)

**Chapter 2. Bedside**

Ginny Weasley and her Mother were constantly compared. She guessed she could understand why. Both had short temperatures, both were liable to bite peoples' heads off (particularly those they loved), and both had wands that you didn't want to be on the receiving ends of. And above all, they would do anything for the ones they loved.

She had been on her way to the Great Hall for dinner when she was stopped by Malfoy. Well, that's a _bit_ of an under-exaggeration. It'd be _more_ accurate to say that she was stopped by Malfoy, and Parkinson, and Zabini, and Goyle, and Crabbe, and Bulstrode, and the two Greengrass sisters.

"Hey, Weaslette." Malfoy smirked, blocking her way to the door. Like crows, the rest of the Slytherins flocked around their smaller leader. Ginny sighed, knowing she couldn't avoid a direct confrontation with the boy who's father she helped put in Azkaban two years previously without expecting his whole gang to gather round. Where were the rest of the D.A, where was anyone, when the Slytherins were bullying someone?

"What do you want, Malfoy?" She asked, looking the ferret in his cold, gray eyes with her warm brown ones. He didn't flinch. She had to give him credit, as the Prewett Women's stare was enough to send her brothers and father heading for the hills.

"Your boyfriend's dying, Weasley." Pansy informed her with a sickly sweet false sadness. "We were just wondering what you were wearing to his funeral."

What a bitch.

"What the hell do you mean?" Ginny demanded. She knew 'her boyfriend' could only mean one of two boys. Two boys, who were both cute, and sensitive, and selfless, and brave, and had such terrible lives so far. And both were extremely prone to accidents. In fact, if one were to compare the amount of times these two (plus her youngest brother) had been in the Hospital Wing in with the rest of the people who had ever been in the Hospital Wing, the three former would probably outrank the rest of those who'd ever been inside the Hogwarts Hospital Wing.

"He went psycho in Divination, caused a mirror to shatter without touching it." Zabini crooned.

Ginny paused for a minute, evaluating their words. There was only one student currently enrolled in the school, regardless of gender, who she believed could shatter a mirror purely with their magical power. This student was also renowned for 'going psycho' in several classes on a few occasions.

And this student was one of the two boys who could've been defined, by the Slytherins, at least, as her boyfriend.

"You expect me to believe you?" She gave a snort of disbelief, fighting her way through the group. "If lies were gold, you'd be richer than all the Vaults in Gringotts put together."

"Fine," Malfoy shrugged, letting her pass. "If you don't believe us, go and see for yourself. That might change your mind."

Rolling her eyes, Ginny entered the Great Hall, before pausing with a frown. The Great Hall, in all it's existence, had almost never been so quiet and yet so crowded, except for in when something terrible had happened. Immediately, people she knew from all houses began eyeing her, and some even running up to talk to her.

"Hey Ginny, how is Harry?...is Harry okay? We heard he's dying…. Did Harry have an accident? That's what everyone's saying….."

Ginny felt her heart drop. Facing the Gryffindor table, she three empty seats. Three missing people, who she already knew were not there. Looking to the Staff table, she saw that Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were also missing, with a worried look on the rest of the teacher's faces. Turning back around, she saw Malfoy giving her a smug look.

"Do you believe us-" The rest of this sentence was not finished, only ending abruptly in a shriek of pain, causing the majority of Hogwarts' population to turn and see Draco Malfoy clutching his broken, bleeding nose, and the fast retreating form of a redhead

No one would get in Ginny Weasley's way as she ran for her life to the Hospital Wing.

And Merlin help anyone who tried.

Five minutes later, Ginny burst into the Hospital Wing, panting and clutching her sides, attracting the attention of the six conscious occupants of the room. She, however, only had eyes for the seventh.

Rushing over to the only occupied bed, she saw Harry in a seemingly comatose state. Ginny felt a sigh of relief escape her. Hermione moved next to her, embracing her friend. Now that she had confirmed that Harry was not dead, she had but one question to ask.

"What the Hell happened?" And so, based on the multiple accounts from Ron and Professor Trelawney and several of the others who had been in Divination Class at the time, her friend and her brother were able to recount the tale of how Harry had wound up here.

To put it simply, Harry was asked by Trelawney to participate in her Dririmancy experiment. The goal in mind was for Trelawney to determine Harry's entire past, reveal his present troubles, and tell him his future, in front of a classroom full of students, by making him cut his hand and dribble some blood into a gigantic tank.

You know, the fun, innocent, school-appropriate stuff Trelawney was famous for.

In just three minutes, Trelawney just brushed over the Boy-Who-Lived's utterly horrible childhood: She'd shown that he was almost killed by a megalomaniacal sociopath before he was two, coincidentally the same sociopath who'd murdered his parents, was raised in a household of utterly shitty people who gave him no love or affection, had been beaten by his uncle, and had no happiness until he was eleven, which was when he finally was informed about the existence of magic. And then, Trelawney told the class that the Diririum was going back further in time, before Harry inexplicably fainted.

"What about the mirror?" Ginny inquired. Ron gave his sister a look that he saved just for her.

"What mirror?" He asked.

"I heard from Zabini that Harry shattered a mirror with magic." The younger redhead explained. A look of understanding flashed over Hermione's face.

"He probably meant the Dririum." She informed Ginny. "It was the tank of water that Trelawney used to do her divining-"

"-It was kinda shaped like a mirror, too." Ron cut her off. "Basically, after Harry fell on the ground, the water in the tank flash-froze, and it shattered from the inside out. And-" looking to his unconscious best friend. "-he's been like this since then."

"But," Turning to Professors Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall, as well as Madam Pomfrey, she gave them a look, puzzled. "Why are you all looking like he's on his deathbed?" Ginny wasn't happy, obviously, that Harry was unconscious, but for Merlin's sake, this wasn't the _first_ time he'd fainted. The occupants of the room looked like Harry was already gone.

"Ms. Weasley," Dumbledore began, looking quite exhausted, worn-out, and, well, _ancient_. "Harry's conditions would seem a lot brighter, except for the fact that his conscious mind seems to be gone. This attack wasn't caused by Voldemort, it was caused by whatever happened in that Divination class. We cannot access his mind, almost like there is a block in it against Legilimency."

"I must say," Snape gave a snort, holding his wand to Harry's head. "This Occlumencic shield is much more successful at protecting Potter's mind than he ever was." Ginny gritted her teeth. Bastard.

"I must say, Professor Snape," She spat. "Your worth as a spy has been a far greater asset to keeping you alive than your personality ever will be."

Behind her, Ginny heard Ron and Hermione burst out laughing, and beyond the tired Headmaster and the livid Potions Master, the Deputy Headmistress and the School Nurse (two of the strictest and sternest women in the school) were barely succeeding in containing their own amusement. Snape walked up to her, towering over her with an eerie rage.

"Listen here, Weasley." He spat in her face. "I will not tolerate being talked like that to by a redhead layabout such as yourself, who holds on to some pathetic delusion that the worthless boy she crushes after will finally admit that he loves her, so all she has to do is spend the rest of her time on her back with her legs spread-"

"I trust you, Severus, as a _teacher_, to not speak to my daughter in such a manner." As all eyes faced the Hospital Wing Entrance, from where the voice had emanated, Molly Weasley appeared from the shadows, her husband's hand on her shoulder. Instantly, Ron and Ginny ran to their parents, embracing them. Snape, cut off guard, and slightly embarrassed to have been corrected by the Weasley Matron, was quick to respond.

"I trust _you_, Mrs. Weasley, as a _parent_, to teach your daughter to not speak to her elders in such a way." Mrs. Weasley, whose face was reddening with fury, was about to respond, when Arthur interjected.

"Our daughter was defending a friend, something we taught her to do, whatever the circumstance." He articulated. _Way to mediate, Dad,_ Ginny thought with a smile. "Unfortunately, she only knows how show _defense _through _offense_." Snape relented, turning away and stepping back. Arthur Weasley turned to the unconscious Harry. "How is he?"

"Unconscious." Ron replied. This drew a look of irritation on Ginny and Hermione's faces, and a chastising tap on the shoulder by his Mother. Ron looked annoyed at their reactions. "Well, let's be honest, this isn't Harry's first time in the Hospital wing, not even close. I'm sure he'll be-"

"No." Everyone's eyes widened, and the room focused in on the hospital bed where the voice had emanated from. Trying to make sure she wasn't crazy, Ginny asked:

"Did he just-"

"No." Harry moaned again. The occupants of the Hospital Wing all gathered around him, trying to see if he would respond.

"Harry, my dear, are you awake-"

"Come on, mate, wake up-"

"Wake up, Potter-"

"Harry, please,-"

"_No_." This time, it sounded like it was slightly pained. The talking ceased, with a simple realization. Harry was not awake. He was in a dreamland, or a trance, or something like it. "No, No, NO, NO PLEASE, STOP!" Harry's back arched in pain, almost lifting him from the bed. They all drew back in horror, afraid that they had done something to trigger this pain.

"PLEASE, STOP!" Harry continued to scream in agony. "LEAVE ME ALONE, PLEASE! I'M SORRY I-AHHHHHHHHHH!" Hermione and Ginny both rushed to either side of him to see if they could console Harry. However, as his fists subtly clenched the bed sheets, every single pane in the window complex of the Hospital Wing shattered, causing everyone else to back away, and they were only prevented from being hailed on by the quick _Aresto Momentum_ of Snape. Slowly, Harry sunk back onto the bed, back into the unreachable unconsciousness state he'd been in. Ginny turned to Madam Pomfrey.

"What the bloody hell was that?" She demanded. Ignoring her mother's slight _Ginevra!_,she focused her eyes on the Hogwarts Healer. The woman looked unsure, and frankly traumatized by what had just happened.

"I don't know." Poppy admitted, looking to the now unconscious Harry. "In all my years, I've only seen that happen a few times, and never with a window shattering." She held out her wand, muttering a spell as she waved it over Harry's body. The Nurse gave a sigh. "Well, we won't find out what the problem is tonight."

"Well then," Dumbledore sighed. "For now, at least, we must let him heal." Turning to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, he continued. "Arthur, Molly, if you do not mind leaving Harry tonight, I would be thankful if you gathered the Order." As the Weasley parents left, he and the two professors gave Madam Pomfrey a curt nod, before leaving as well. The Nurse looked at the three students, before giving a sigh.

"Well, It's pointless to ask you to leave him, as we all know you're not going to. Be sure to not make too much of a ruckus."

Ginny took a seat by Harry's bedside. Looking to the window complex, she heard Madam Pomfrey whisper "_Reparo_", sending some of the shards fluttering upward toward the window, only for them to fall back down. Madam Pomfrey looked about ready to through a fit.

"Damn." She growled, scarily reminiscent of Mad-Eye Moody.

"Something wrong, Madam Pomfrey?" Ron asked from the Hospital Wing bed he was lying in.

"Potter destroyed the windows with something powerful." The Nurse said, walking through the shards of glass. "It's magically damaged. Can't be fixed."

"Except, maybe, by Harry." Hermione said suddenly. Ron gave a snort of derision.

"Yeah, except he's out cold, Hermione, unless you haven't noticed." Ginny realized what she meant instantly, and got up so that she stood over Harry.

"No! That's Actually a good idea, Mione." She carefully lowered the bed sheets. "Using Harry, we can fix the windows." She said determinedly. "Besides, if we're going to keep Harry company tonight, we might as well try." Placing a hand gently on Harry's wrist, she waited as the anticipated panic struck Harry again.

"No, please.." He began to moan. With a soft shush, Ginny gave his arm a comfortingly tender stroke.

"It's okay, Harry." She whispered softly. The tension faded, and Harry went back to his dreamworld. Lifting his arm, Ginny tried to decide how this would work. Obviously just flapping his arm around wouldn't work. So she'd have to coax Harry into it with a happy feeling, since a bad feeling had caused it.

Even thinking that sounded stupid. _Very articulate, Gin,_ she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. But she continued to stroke Harry's arm. Harry's impassive face began to melt into a lazy smile.

"Ren?" He asked. "Ren? Renenet?" Ginny ignored him, and taking his hand, she lightly waved it in the general direction of the glass shards.

Instantly, the shards flew upward, each fitting perfectly back into it's own place in the giant glass window frame. The four conscious occupants of the room were left to marvel at what Hermione's brains and Ginny's gentleness could do, coupled with a coma-ridden Harry.

"Of course." Madam Pomfrey sighed.

"What?" Ginny asked, relinquishing Harry's hand. "Do you need some help, Madam Pomfrey?" The aging witch turned to her.

"Harry just had two magical outbursts in one day." She explained, taking her cap off and letting her graying hair loose. "For children and even adults, a magical outburst will usually pale in comparison to their full control over their powers. It's simple stuff, like making hair color change, or causing small objects to disappear." Turning to Harry, her face saddened. "Harry, however, has shown much more power when _not_ in control as opposed to when he _is_ in control. He does things like making glass shatter..."

"...or inflating his aunt..." Ron provided.

"...or making an entire pane of glass repair itself..." Hermione added on.

"...or regrowing his hair in a night..." Ginny finished, recounting the story Harry told her once. The graying witch nodded.

"And apart from his success in learning a Patronus, Mr. Potter's magical capabilities have not really extended that far past yours." Ginny was about to argue, but then she thought about it. What really, did Harry have, in terms of power? Certainly nothing equal to that of Dumbledore or Voldemort. In fact, Harry's feats seemed extraordinary for a teenage wizard, but they weren't _impossible_ for others to accomplish. Something suddenly clicked in her mind.

"So either Harry's hiding what he's capable of..." Hermione began slowly.

"...or he's too afraid to find out." Ginny finished. The redhead turned to the Hogwarts nurse. "What would make him be afraid?"

"The only times I've heard of a child being more powerful when _out_ of control, as opposed to _in_ control, would be in cases of abuse, like Danae Argosy, a little Squib girl who was beaten by her parents because of the 'Shame' she brought to their Noble Pureblood family, or in the case of injury and brain damage, like Ariana Du-" she cut herself off, like she was about to say a naughty word, looking slightly terrified. Calming herself, she continued. "There's only really one way to know what caused this." She turned to the three students.

"We need to ask the Dursleys."

(Chapter 3 missing)

**Chapter 4. Prophecy and Panicking.**

After his five friends panicking, one kiss each from Hermione and Ginny and Luna (and his subsequent blushing), the retrieval of the teachers, three glasses of water, a bath, a change of clothes, two exams by Madam Pomfrey, and a kiss from Mrs. Weasley and (to his surprise) his Aunt Petunia (Hermione had convinced him to just go with it), Harry was determined ready to meet with Professor Dumbledore. To his surprise, they were having an Order Meeting today, and given Harry's condition, if he was to participate, it would have to be in the Hospital Wing.

So during Sunday evening, as it grew dark outside and the only light-source became the lamp-lights inside of the hospital wing, people began to flood into the Hospital wing: First Tonks and Remus, followed by Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, Hagrid, Bill and Fleur Delacour (who caused Dudley, Neville, and Ron to temporarily lose the power of speech), Charlie, Arthur, the twins, Emmeline Vance, Hestia Jones, Mundungus Fletcher, and finally Daedalus Diggle, escorting a in rather confused Professor Trelawney. While Remus, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye conjured secrecy wards around the Hospital, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey removed all the beds, except Harry's, and conjured a long table for everyone to sit at.

With some insisted assistance from Hermione and Ginny (which he dare not refuse), Harry was pulled from the bed, and seated at one end of the table, with Dumbledore at the other end. Immediately after Dumbledore sat, everyone besides Harry (who was already seated) followed suite, except the two Dursleys, standing and looking unsure of themselves. Harry felt slightly guilty, knowing all too well what it felt like to be the odd person out.

"May my Aunt and cousin stay, Professor?" He asked, looking to Dumbledore. "I can vouch that they won't say anything to anyone, as they don't have any contact with Wizards except through me, and they could provide insight to the Muggle perspective." A slight murmur ran through the table, on the idea of letting a Muggle listen in on the Order's plans, but Dumbledore gave a nod of assent.

"I trust your judgement, Harry." He stated. Harry thanked the Professor, before getting up and slowly over to his aunt and cousin, getting them down into seats next to each other and near him, before gently sitting down. He gave Dumbledore a nod to continue, and the meeting began.

"First order of business," Kingsley began, in his deep, mellow tone. "The Muggle Prime Minister, and our own Minister, have brought up the commonly asked question of whether we should make Muggles aware of our existence." He turned to the rest of the group. "Thoughts?"

It was common sense that this question would be directed towards the Muggle experts and Muggle-raised in the Order. Harry contemplated the situation. The awareness of magic could cause many benefits, like making Muggleborn children aware of their magic earlier through detections, and it could cause the emergence of amazing technological advances. The only question was, what were the possible risks?

"I think it's about time. " Mad-Eye growled. "The Muggles should be able to defend themselves. Maybe they could even help us."

"But think of the risks." Professor Snape inserted. "It's possible Muggles still retain a prejudice of our kind, and the idea of someone being more powerful than them-"

"That's in the past, now, Snape."

"Indeed it is, Alastor, just as Blood Status and Superiority is in the past-"

"That's an entirely different issue, Severus, and you know it-"

"Is it? It's an age-old prejudice that exists in our world that has never really gone away. It's gotten better, but it's still existent in our society."

"But it will go away eventually!" Mad-Eye grumbled in retaliation. All was quiet around the table. They were on the first order of business and already there was arguing. No one wanted to intervene between Mad-Eye and Snape, perhaps two of the last people anyone would want to cross.

"What is blood purity?" Dudley asked timidly. Everyone, including Harry, turned in surprise to look at the Muggle boy. No one knew who should respond. Finally, it was Harry who answered.

"It's kind of like race, Dudley. Heritage." This was clearly not a good description, because his large and muscular cousin made a face.

"But, you..." He paused, searching for a sensitive or appropriate word. "...guys...already have different races." He eyed the tall Kingsley, but obviously decided against pointing him out, in case Kingsley took offense to it. "I mean, I saw a couple of Indian girls when we first walked in. And there was a couple black and asian kids."

"It's basically the same concept, Dudley." Hermione offered. "Except it's based on how long magic has run in your family. The Weasleys," At this, she gestured to the redheads at the table. Harry's blond cousin visibly flinched, evidently remembering the Weasley twins and their Tonne-Tongue Toffee. "..have had magic in their family for as long as they can remember. They're what we call Purebloods." The Weasleys, obviously, could've cared less. Hermione pointed to herself. "As far as anyone knows, no one has ever had magic in my family. I'm called a Muggleborn." She looked at everyone else at the table. "Most of the wizarding world is Half-Blood, like Harry." She pointed to her friend. "They have a heritage with a combination of Muggles, Muggleborns, or Purebloods." Dudley nodded in understanding.

"Is it a big deal here? Blood Status?" Hermione paused a minute, wondering how to answer. Harry could sense her hesitation, and the reason for it. It would be a wrong answer to say no, because Otherwise the order wouldn't exist, Hermione wouldn't have been frequently called Mudblood by Malfoy and the other Slytherins, and the Ministry had shown bias to Blood Purity, but it would also be a heavy over-exaggeration to say yes, as no one was within their legal rights to kill or terrorize Muggles and Muggleborns for sport. So Harry took over for her.

"Not to most people." He said evenly. "To everyone here, it's one of the most stupid and irrelevant concepts ever." Harry sighed . "Unfortunately, other people make it a big deal. The group that we oppose, called the Death Eaters, are extremist advocates who attack people who favor the idea of welcoming Muggleborn wizards into the wizarding community, as opposed to not allowing them to mix with the Purebloods and other wizards and witches who are raised in the magical world."

All around the table, teachers, Members of the Order of the Phoenix, and the five other DA members, were nodding appreciatively at the way Harry was able to describe the problems of the wizarding world to a Muggle. Those unfamiliar with the speech Harry gave to convince others to join Dumbledore's Army were unaware of The Boy Who Lived's abilities as an orator. Harry, however, had his eyes fixed on his cousin, waiting for a response. Dudley cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention once again.

"I think that to reveal yourselves now would be a problem, wouldn't it?" Dudley asked. Alastor Moody frowned, both eyes focusing on the large boy.

"How so, boy?" He half-asked, half-growled. The blond eighteen year-old looked nervously to his younger cousin, who gave him an encouraging nod.

"Well," He continued. "Your world is suffering from it's own prejudice and issues with Blood Purity, right?" His blue eyes scanned the room, as most people nodded in agreement. "Well, our world also has loads of problems involving differences, that we've taken lots of time to work on, and still need progress for." The majority of the people in the room looked lost, so he gave an example: "Like the color of your skin..."

"...what country you come from.." Aunt Petunia added.

"..what gods you believe in.." Harry volunteered.

"...who you vote for.." Hermione continued.

"...whether you think people of the same gender should be allowed to get married.." Harry provided.

"...or how whether you think money should be for the rich to keep or to provide for the poor." Hermione concluded.

There was a silence among the rest, obviously not as attuned to the issues of the Muggle World as these four were. Dudley Dursley had provided these wizards with a startling and shocking revelation: The Muggle World was not as happy and carefree, nor as savage and unintellectual, as everyone had assumed it was. Finally, Dumbledore spoke.

"But, if the problems die down eventually, why bother waiting to ally with the Muggle World?" Dudley paused again, before answering.

"Well, it's strategy, isn't it?" He looked to the wizards. "If you reveal yourselves to us now, then if things go sour, and our lot starts fighting with your lot, then you've got two wars on your hands. On with the Dark People and one with Us." The Wizards began to evaluate his words. Kingsley finally spoke up.

"Well, It is decided: We shall retain anonymity with the Muggle World." He said. "Next order of business."

The meeting was over very quickly. What followed afterward could only be described as a social. Everyone was lounging about, talking and having fun.

Harry heard a loud laugh, looking over his shoulder to see the Twins in hysterics over a story Mundungus was telling them. Near them, Remus and Tonks were wrapped around each other, clearly tuning the world out and having eyes only for each other. By a corner, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were cuddling, talking to Charlie and Ginny. Harry smiled.

Even in the darkest of times, happiness could exist.

Ron and Neville walked up to him, clearly wanting to avoid Dudley, who was deep in conversation with Hermione and Luna. Harry could tell that the pair were visibly upset that they had been unable to provide much in their first Order meeting, while Dudley, who was not even part of the Order, and invited by chance, was a valuable asset to the discussion, and impressed the other members. Harry could not help but think that they were being a little childish, as they'd proven themselves multiple times before, but relented, knowing that he could not force them to be happy.

"Hey, mate." Ron called, clapping him on the back and handing him a bottle of Butterbeer. Harry thanked the redhead, taking a long swig of the liquid. Looking at his two fellow Gryffindors, he could detect that something significant was on their minds, and decided that as they clearly thought it was important, as a friend it should be important to him as well.

"What's up?" He asked. When they both shrugged, Harry decided he should reframe the question. "What's on your minds? You look like you have something you want to ask, but that you're afraid to say it."

The lanky boy and round-faced boy shared a look, unsure of whether the question they had was inappropriate to ask, or whether it would set Harry off in something. Neville, evidently the curiouser of the two, was the one to proceed.

"We were just thinking.." He began, before checking over his shoulder nervously, as if someone might overhear. "...what do you think _it_ means?"

"What do I think what means?" Harry asked, frowning slightly. Ron rolled his eyes, leaning forward.

"The _word_, mate, what do you think _the word_ means?"

"What word!?" He demanded, unsure of what the pair were talking about.

"The word that made you faint in Divination! The one that woke you up! What does it mean?" Harry shrugged.

"Not sure, but does it matter?"

"Yes!" Neville insisted. "What if it's important to You-Know-Who? What if it's something he's looking for?" Harry smiled, shaking his head.

"No, it's not Voldemort." He assured the two of them. Ron frowned.

"Are you sure? How would you know?" Harry sighed. Did Ron seriously have that much lack of faith in him?

"I don't know, Ron, perhaps from all my experience with visions of Voldemort?" He asked, a little too sarcastically. When seeing the hurt expressions in Ron and Neville's eyes, he explained: "I only remember seeing a few scenes, and none of them would be from his time."

"Maybe if we say it again?" Ron began. "I mean, what would be wrong with seeing whether you'd find any connections to Voldemort and Zroantyss…WAIT!"

Too late.

_Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a dark place, possibly a large room, with nothing but darkness. There were three standing mirrors near him with an inexplicable overhead illumination, and beyond that, a circle of people, whose bodies were illuminated by the same light, but their faces hidden in darkness._

_"Walk towards them." The silhouettes called. Suprisingly, Harry felt himself obey, even though he had no idea why. After all, he already knew what he was going to see, wasn't he? Approaching the set of three mirrors, he looked into the middle one. Harry gave a frown. This man wasn't him! He was taller, with a combination of tan and flush to his skin, with brown-green eyes, and cropped dark brown hair. He still had the glasses, but he wore a robe seemingly fit for combat, with a camouflage pattern._

_Whoever the man was, he copied Harry's every move, not in mimicking, but in synchronization. The look of shock on his face was too accurate, especially considering that he was looking upward instead of downward at Harry._

_Flipping his head to the left, expecting to see the military man again, harry instead saw a woman who was petite, about Hermione or Ginny's size. Her resemblance to Harry was even less than that of the man. She was clearly half-asian, with dark silky hair, slanted brown eyes, olive-tan skin, but still with reminiscent European traits, wearing a lab coat this time._

_Looking to the mirror on the other side, Harry saw another man staring back at him, with pale skin, light brown hair, and gray eyes. He wore a tweed jacket and had a pair of rimmed glasses. The man looked about 20, closer to his age then the other two people. _

_He then backed away and look at all three mirrors. Instantly, the three reflections turned to look at him, staring at him. Blinking quickly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, Harry looked again. This time, the reflections were still staring at him, but each was looking severely injured and took no notice of it, the soldier-wizard with several bullet holes in his chest, the young man looking burned badly, and the woman's face being marred beyond recognition. Harry held his breath: What was this?_

_Turning around to walk away from the mirrors, he saw a fourth one blocking his way. This time, his reflection was a man with long wavy blond locks and green eyes, with tanned skin and a bit of stubble on his face. Adorned in a trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat, the man was a few inches taller than Harry, and as he stared at the mirror-image, the man suddenly looked down at him and grabbed the frames of the mirror with his gloves, before stepping out of it, and approaching Harry. Harry tried to scream and run away, but no sound came out, and as he retreated a hand grabbed his leg from out of nowhere._

_As the man in trench-coat approached him, getting ever so closer, Harry heard a crack like a gunshot, and the man inexplicably crumbled into shards of glass._

_Groveling back, he felt his hands touch something wet and warm. Lifting it to his face, he saw what the liquid was: warm, red, and-_

_He looked to the floor, which was now covered with blood. Getting to his feet, he saw that the once-clean black ground littered with the corpses of his loved ones: His parents, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, the Weasleys, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, the Order, Remus...the list went on and on...Miriam, her blue eyes slack with surprise...Elijah, Henrietta, and two bundles that must have been Henry and Liza...Liberia and her family...Renenet...his five beautiful Sirens..._

_He could smell burning smoke, choking on the acrid fumes. And as flames danced in his eyes, through the cold night, he could hear a person calling him. It didn't matter whom, because it would always change. It was almost a girl's voice. Suddenly, there began to be multiple voices, chiming together, calling him, yet calling another name. Soon, the sound was overwhelming, and Harry found that he couldn't not stand it. He fell to his knees and tried to close his eyes, hoping it would go away._

_It didn't. In fact, it crescendoed if possible, pounding in his head. There was no escape. The fire was encroaching everything. He was falling, falling..._

"Harry!" He opened his eyes, only to find that he was on the cold floor of the Hospital Wing, surrounded by the concerned faces of Madam Pomfrey, Mrs. Weasley, and Aunt Petunia. He attempted to sit up, but was forced down by the surprising strength of Ginny and Luna combined, who each sat by a shoulder.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," He waved away their worry, attempting again to sit up, only for Ginny and Luna push him back onto his back again. Madam Pomfrey held her wand up to his eye, whispering a scanning spell and letting green light pass over his face. For the third time, he attempted to sit up, resisting Ginny and Luna's strength and inching upward, before finally getting up into a standing position.

Harry scanned the room, seeing a look of concern on everyone's faces, except for Snape and Trelawney (the former looked annoyed, and the latter was sitting in a chair looking confused). He felt hot and sweaty and terribly uncomfortable, and was trying to focus on what the vision with the mirrors meant.

And then, suddenly, his shirt was gone.

"Oi!" He glared at Hermione, who had her wand extended in one hand and Harry's shirt in the other, which looked sweaty and red.

"You're bleeding, Genius," she said, pointing with her wand to a long cut on Harry's stomach, which was covered by a dark crimson liquid. It was strange, given the fact that he couldn't feel any amount of pain at that moment. That didn't make him any more comfortable with being shirtless in front of a large group of people. In fact, it made him even more self-conscious, as he vainly attempted to cover himself.

Ginny, detecting his insecurities, sighed and conjured the curtain around his bed, before forcing him on to it. Madam Pomfrey began patching up the cut, while Aunt Petunia cleaned the blood with a cloth given to her by the Hogwarts Mediwitch, and Mrs. Weasley interrogated him with a series of questions, which could be answered with a shake of "yes" or "no" with the head. For example, Yes, he was alright. No, he didn't need some air. Yes, he was fine. Yes, he was sure. No, he didn't need a glass of water. Yes, he was fine.

When he was patched up, Ginny and Luna helped him up again, before helping him put his shirt on. Drawing back the curtains, they walked him out of the small area around his bed into the larger part of the Hospital Wing, when the three older women darted towards one corner of the room, where everyone else had flocked. To his surprise, there was already person who'd seemingly collapsed on the floor. Hobbling towards the center of the small crowd of people, he saw that, unconscious on the floor, very ironically, was-

"Sybil?" Dumbledore asked, holding the Divination Professor. "Can you hear me?" If she could, she gave no sign of it. The headmaster gave her a slight shake, but the woman was not responding. However, Harry could not help but notice that her breathing was becoming shallow. Suddenly, he became very aware of what was about to happen right before it did.

_**"The one with the power to vanquish Darkness has not been lived the life of a single man or woman..."**_ The Divination teacher called, silencing the room._** "The One has had many lives, and many struggles, and has loved and been loved more than any other can know." **_Curiously, unlike the other prophecies Trelawney had made, this one was soft and melodic, with the sound of several women talking at once, and with several echoes at the end of every phrase. As the lights in the room went out, the Seer's eyes began to glow a silvery white, with smoke emitting from her mouth. _**"The One has been reborn, as a boy who was born as the Seventh Month died..."**_ Harry stood up and began to back away from Trelawney, feeling Luna's hand slip through her fingers. He knew where this was going, and he had to leave. He had to get away.

_**"The One was reborn, as a boy who was born as the Seventh Month died..."**_ Luna continued, standing isolated, with an ethereal breeze running through her hair. _**"Born to those who fell to the very Darkness they thrice defied..."**_ Trelawney, who'd inexplicably gotten to her feet, walked towards Luna, with the room's occupants parting before her. Standing together, a smoke like a Patronus emitted from their mouths, wrapping around Harry, who was walking backwards, attempting to run from them. With their silver eyes, and a spectral wind whipping their hair, the two Seers began to walk towards him.

_**"The One shall build an army..." **_They chanted. _**"He must find 7 lovers five times over, And with the power must defeat the Darkness, or else fail."**_ Harry's head flashed through with memories of people from different time periods, almost splitting open in pain. Both seers extended their left hand._** "And The One shall remember all by a single word: Zroantyss!"**_

Pain surged through Harry's brain, as he felt dozens of languages pour into his memory and speech capabilities. Luna and Trelawney again called:

_**"Zroantyss!"**_

He felt the pain in his mind again, this time accompanied by an archive of spells and knowledge, that instantly became available to Harry. The two women were not giving up.

_**"Zroantyss!"**_

Memories of his foes appeared: Vladmir, Typhonius, Gellert, William, Abigail...it was an endless list of people, whom he felt nothing but contempt for.

_**"Zroantyss!"**_

As he slumped against the wall, Ginny ran to help him, but the gray-silver light halted her. He was immediately filled with a feeling of pure love, as the names of all the people who had loved him, in all of his lives. He understood now.

"_Zroantyss_!" He shouted.

He finally knew who he was. He had lived dozens of lives, fought by and against countless wizards and witches. He had lived in countless times, and numerous territories. He was many, that were still only one.

As the lights in the room flickered back on, the silver smoke dissipated, with Trelawney looking confused as to what had just happened, while Luna was merely giving Harry a look like he was an interesting article that was featured in the Quibbler.

The rest of the room's occupants did not seem to find Harry so interesting. In fact, they were all able to compress themselves so that everyone was not more than 5 feet from the window pane. Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Dumbledore, and Snape had their wands out, and had evidently been trying to stop him from approaching any of the others. Harry was confused, partly due to the millions of memories pounding his head into near-oblivion. Frowning, he slowly walked towards them, only for the four adult wizards to raise their wands. Stopping, he felt his foot hit something, and looked down to see a long, thin crack running along the floor of the hospital wing. Harry felt his head spin. Had he done that? Had he literarily fractured the ground with the memories of the spells his past incarnations had performed?

Looking again to the Order, and to the people he considered his closest friends and his surrogate family, he saw the expressions on their faces. They were fearful, but not for him. They were fearful for themselves, fearful of Harry, like he was not human. More like a monster. He frowned.

"It's alright," He assured them, walking closer. "I'm not going to hurt-"

A Reductor Curse thrown by Snape hit the floor near Harry's foot, shattering the ground. Luna and Trelawney, who were still in the middle of the room, looked at the rest of the people, still backed against one side of the room, confused. Dumbledore looked at the pair, slightly panicked.

"Miss Lovegood, Sybil, if you please come to this side of the room where it is safe." He insisted. Harry looked at him, hurt beyond words.

"Safe?" He demanded. "Why would it not be safe with me?" Dumbledore looked at him, seemingly trying to find the 'appropriate answer. Unfortunately, Harry already knew it himself.

His friends, teachers, and family were afraid of him. It was as simple as that.

Luna knew from the minute the meeting started that the Nargles had ravaged the Hospital Wing with infestation. After she blinked for one second a minute after Trelawney collapsed, and then opened her eyes, only to see Harry at one end of the room, clutching his forehead, with the others on the other end, all pointing their wands at him, she had confirmed that the Nargles had done their tricky little magic.

She saw the hurt look in Harry's eyes as he was told to stay back, stay away, like an animal. Except, obviously, a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, as they were very gentle and passive in nature.

While he was clearly emotionally wounded, as well as in pain, he seemed to be also embarrassed, as his cheeks were darkening. Except instead of pink or red (both of which would look quite attractive against Harry's handsome tan skin), black was spreading across his face. In fact, his entire body, and even his clothes, had a dark shadow falling across them, almost like Harry was fading, being replaced by a shade.

"What's happening?!" Ginny demanded, as they watched Harry turn to shadow, his expression a combination of anger, disgust, hurt, and pain. Luna watched as her red-haired friend struggled to escape from her parents and the others, who were holding her back. As Harry's entire body was finally converted into darkness, Ginny broke free of the adults, as did Hermione, both of whom darted towards their fast-vanishing friend. Ginny, the quicker of the two (who was more agile than a male Blibbering Humdinger in mating season), reached Harry first, lunging at him.

However, the minute she touched the shadow, it dissipated with a soft whisper, and instead of embracing Harry, Ginny stumbled through him, landing on her knees on the Hospital Wing floor.

Harry was gone.

**Chapter 5. Search and Discover**

To say the least, Ginny was not amused. Not in the slightest.

"DAMN IT!" She screamed, slamming her hand onto the floor of the Hospital Wing. Ginny looked at the order, infuriated that they had treated Harry in such a way.

"Are you idiots happy?" The Weasley daughter (ignoring her father and mother's shocked looks) demanded. "He's probably terrified, and thinks that we hate him and are going to send a pack of Aurors after him!" Snape gave her an affronted look.

"Miss Weasley, I don't know what you are thinking, but what Potter just did was most definitely Dark Magic!" He insisted.

"How was that Dark Magic?" Ginny demanded, a hand extended towards the spot where Harry had disappeared. "He made the room shake a little and turned into a cloud of shadows!"

"Exactly!" Moody growled. "That's not the kind of magic with a boy about to graduate from Hogwarts is expected to have!" The Auror frowned suddenly, as if thinking on something, his Magical eye swirling within it's socket. "Come to think of it, that's not the kind of magic any wizard is expected to have."

"So, what, because Harry's more competent and powerful than you, that makes him evil?" Hermione demanded. Even Ginny looked slightly shocked at Hermione's tone. To hear the bookworm say anything against an adult was a rare (and non-occurring, at least until then) happening. But then again, if it was because the adult was saying something against Harry, that was comprehendible. The brown-haired girl continued. "I'm starting to think _Dark _Magic translates as magic that the rest of people are incapable of doing!"

"Miss Granger," Snape started, as evenly as he could. "..your arrogance astounds me. For once in your pathetic life, _hold your damned tongue! _"

"Why?" Ginny demanded, ignoring the panic she and Hermione were causing her parents. "Hermione's made a completely reasonable point. It seems that wizards who are considered _Dark_ are also exceedingly more powerful than the rest of the wizards around them."

"Don't be absurd, Weasley." Snape spat. "Merlin and the Hogwarts Founders," Dumbledore coughed at this. " Besides Slytherin, that is," Snape added quickly, only for someone else (She couldn't tell whom) to cough. "..and of course Dumbledore," The Headmaster chuckled. "were, and are, all good wizards who are notable for being extremely powerful. Being considered Dark doesn't correlate to being considered a threat because they're more powerful."

"But Professor," Hermione interrupted. "Morgan Le Fay was the only other known potent wizard or witch in the British Isles in the time of Merlin, as well as his only foe, and she was labeled a Dark Witch for no apparent reason, other than the fact that she was well-read on the topic of Dark Magic."

"And Slytherin was also the only founder with a talent that none of the other three could possibly possessed, and was thrown out of the school by Gryffindor!" Ginny pointed out. Seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces, she backtracked. "-Not to argue that Slytherin was a _good_ person." She turned to Dumbledore. "And both Grindelwald (" Dumbledore almost imperceptibly sighed. ") and Voldemort are the only two other wizards renowned for being powerful in the 20th century, and they were both labeled evil, and only _Dumbledore's_ been able to keep them at bay."

"Are you insinuating that I am a Dark Wizard, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked with a smile. The Red-haired girl shook her head. "No, sir, I was just building off of Hermione's point," She turned to her brunette friend, unsure of how to word the point Hermione had made. "-Which I _think_ was that the only wizards who are known for being both Good _and_ Powerful are those who were able to keep wizards who were labeled _Dark_ at bay." Hermione gave a nod as everyone turned to her.

"_And_," the Muggleborn continued. "Two years ago, the Entire British Wizarding World labeled you and Harry as dangerous rebellious lunatics, Professor. It was probably the thought of two potent wizards on the same side that terrified them."

The Order, the Staff, and the other three D.A members (plus Aunt Petunia and Dudley) mulled over the two girls' words. Dumbledore finally nodded to himself, apparently deciding on something.

"We must look for Harry, then." The Headmaster announced. "We will search any possible locations that he might be in." The group listened intently to the man's words. "Break up into teams: Alastor, you go with Poppy." Both the Ex-Auror and the Hogwarts Nurse did not look very pleased by this. Then again, Ginny could hardly remember a time when either of them had looked pleased. "Minerva and Emmeline, you two will search together. Mr. Longbottom, please accompany Dedalus. Arthur and Molly, you two will go together. Mr. and Mr. Weasley," he pointed to Fred and George. "You two shall go together. William, you and Ms. Delacour shall go together, as will Charles and Hestia, and Remus and Nymphadora (Tonks gave a scoff of annoyance the mention of her birth name.) Mr. Weasley (Ron), you and Miss Granger shall go together. Severus and I shall go together. And Kingsley, you shall go alone."

Ginny was about to protest being left out of the search, but she was cut off by Dumbledore, who gave each person a golden wrist band from a seemingly small velvet bag, with an apparently extensive extension charm on it. "These are distributed only in a case of emergency, to allow people to apparate in and out of protected areas."

"Professor," Luna asked quietly. Everyone turned to the blond girl. "Might Ginny and I go? You see, Harry's our friend, too, and we don't want him to be left out." Ginny silently thanked Luna, and awaited Dumbledore's response.

"Quite well-versed, Ms. Lovegood." The old man said with a nod. He handed the two girls a golden band, but this time, each had a small ruby square on it. "These two are for younger wizards, enabling them to use magic while canceling the Trace, as well as teleport from area to area without apparating. Simply tap your wand on the bracelet, and think of the desired location." Dumbledore then turned to the group at large. "Send a Patronus to everyone when you've located Harry."

And with that, the rest of the search party vanished with a Pop, leaving Ginny and Luna alone with Hagrid, Trelawney, Harry's Aunt, and her son. Ginny looked at her blond friend, who put out her hand for the redhead to take. She did.

"Ok," Ginny said, placing her wand on the gem, unsure of herself. "Let's try-"

"-The Burrow." Before she had even said it, the pair of them were in the garden bed in front of her house. Unfortunately, that must've been on all of the other Weasleys' minds, because the lights were on in the tall, crooked building, and they were quite audible. Sighing, she knew that her family hadn't found Harry. Ginny tried again.

"Perhaps-"

"-Gringotts?" Again, they had materialized there before she had finished speaking. Walking through the front doors, manned by two large security wizards, She and Luna were both put off, but not surprised, to see Bill and Phlegm-_Fleur_….talking to the Head Goblin. Bill, seeing his sister, waved her away.

"We got Diagon Alley, try somewhere else." Ginny sighed.

"Is this the house Harry grew up in?" Luna asked, gazing at Number Four, Privet Drive.

"Yep." Ginny said, nodding grimly. The blond tilted her head one way.

"It's no wonder Harry's childhood was miserable." She stated, as they walked towards the house. Ginny stared at her friend.

"How do you figure?" The Pureblood asked, curious to hear Luna's response.

"Well, It's dreadfully ordinary, isn't it?" Ginny smiled. Luna was quite unique and insightful, and probably more together and aware all the time then most people would ever be. Knocking on the door carefully, she wondered how naïve she was to think that Vernon Dursley would ever talk to them. Thankfully, the door was opened by a woman, not Vernon Dursley.

Well, actually the woman looked so close to Vernon, being quite broad and muscular, and with a faint mustache on her lips, that Ginny honestly wasn't sure if it was a woman, or Harry's Uncle picking up a Cross-dressing fetish. But seeing two young slim teenage girls seemed to brighten her up, making it clear she didn't recognize them.

"Ah," She grinned unpleasantly, eyeing them as if they were a pair of good-looking purebred dogs. "What can I help you two fine young girls with? You should meet my Nephew, Dudley. He's quite the muscular young man." The two barely succeeded in containing their snorts. Now that he was treating Harry nicely, or at least not calling him a freak, Dudley did not seem _so_ bad, and he was no longer the fat boy Harry had described. But neither girl could see themselves picking him as a boyfriend.

"Is Vernon Dursley here?" Ginny asked. The woman nodded, turning her head away from the door.

"Vernon! There are two girls here to see you." She shouted. There was the sound of heavy footsteps growing louder, and the door widened, with the heavy woman (whom Ginny assumed was the Aunt Harry had blown up) moving aside to show Vernon Dursley.

If she had not known who Vernon Dursley was, and how much of a monstrous _arse_ he'd been to Harry, she would've felt slightly sorry for the fact that he looked like utter _shit_. As it happens, she _did_ know who he was, and what he'd done, and she could not help but feel smug at the fact that Vernon Dursley was a ruined man. Seeing Ginny and Luna, Vernon instantly moved to slam the door, but Ginny kicked the door, sending him backward and walking in with Luna.

"Where is he?" She demanded. This intrusion led to Vernon squabbling with rage, and Marge looking confused as to what had happened. "Did he come here?"

"You freaks don't think," Vernon began, turning a rather nasty shade of purple. "After ruining my life just a day ago, that you can come into my home and interrogate me, do you?!"

"Well, obviously we do," Luna piped up. "Otherwise we would not have come into your home to interrogate you. But, all rights considered, you ruined your own life every time you beat Harry. But if you would please, just-"

She was cut off by a punch from Marge Dursley, and fell to the floor. As Ginny helped her friend up, the redhead glared at the large, imposing woman, who looked not at all terrified, as her brother did.

"You two looked healthy, but you're clearly all wrong in the head if your friends with _Potter_." She spat. "It's the same way with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, then she only likes dogs with something wrong with them. And let me tell you, my brother has done no wrong. That stupid brat has deserved every beating he got-" And then Marge Dursley too was cut off, not by a punch, but by a wand, Ginny's wand, to be exact, close to her face. The woman snorted. "What? You think you can make us afraid with some stick?"

Contrary to her words, her brother looked very afraid, going pale. "You're not allowed to- to-to-" The hefty man stuttered, only for Luna to smile.

"These bands, Mr. Dursley, allow us to do Magic outside of Hogwarts." She explained. Marge was laughing by now.

"Do you expect me to believe in Magic?" She asked, wiping tears of laughter from her red face. "That little stick doesn't scare me."

"Not for long." Ginny smiled with mock-sadness. "Solveprior Incantatem!" Marge's face went slack for a minute, her eyes gazing off into space, before resting on Ginny, then Ginny's hand, then the wand. She instantly backed away in horror, moving past Vernon.

"NO! PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Memory charm removed. Ginny said it again.

"Solveprior Incantatem!" This time, the repulsive woman instantly swelled to the size of a balloon, before floating upward onto the ceiling. Deflating Charm removed. Luna looked to the panicked Mr. Dursley, who was struggling to get his sister off of the ceiling.

"Ginny wants to know is if Harry has been through here. But the answer is no, because Harry is still at Hogwarts." Ginny gave her friend a bewildered look.

"Luna, why didn't you say something?" She asked. Luna gave a shrug.

"I thought we should give some time for someone else to find him." The dreamy girl replied. Holding out her hand to Luna, this time the other girl tapped the crystal.

Instantly, Ginny felt herself materialize somewhere, only to be stretched like a rubber band and tossed onto her back. Opening her eyes, she sat up, looking around to see that behind her was a tapestry of a wizard surrounded by eight Trolls in tutus, some of which were accidently butchering the wizard. Barnabas the Barmy, attempting to train Trolls for the Ballet. Which meant….

The wall Ginny was facing was the Room of Requirement, where Harry was.

Standing up, she contemplated why the room had ejected her, but not Luna (she had to assume her friend was inside, since Luna was not anywhere in sight.), before realizing that her friend already knew the purpose Harry had entered the room for.

Ginny paced back and forth three times, thinking:_ I need a place where I can be alone…..I need a place where I can be alone…I need a place where I can be alone_. She turned to the wall, but didn't see any entrance. She tried again: _I need to hide where no one will find me…..I need to hide where no one will find me…I need to hide where no one will find me. She looked again to the still-doorless wall. _Damn.

Ginny paused for a minute. She needed to try one more thing. Pacing again, she closed her eyes, and heard stone sliding on stone. Opening her eyes again, she saw that a door had materialized. She opened it, stepping in.

"Wow, Harry really wanted to blow stuff up." She said to herself, carefully walking through the ruins of demolished cabinets and other things conjured up by the Room for Harry to obliterate into dust. The room, in this size was spacious enough to fit in most of Hogwarts' students, but no matter. Treading through the ashes around her, she suddenly heard a soft crying. Farther ahead, she saw that there was a small alcove covered by a right triangular door, almost like one to a cupboard.

Opening the door, she saw a hunched, sobbing Harry being consoled by Luna. Harry. Being consoled by Luna. The most Gryffindorish boy-errr-_man_-errrrrrrrrr…._young_ man- that she knew, at least, was crying. The blond girl, who was patting Harry on the back, looked to see Ginny, and smiled.

"Hello, Ginny, I see you've gotten in." Trust Luna to know the first thing Harry would want to do is take his anger out on poor, helpless wooden objects. At the mention of the redhead, Harry lifted his head, his eyes red-rimmed, before clearing his throat. As Ginny sat down next to him, the three tried to make themselves comfortable in the small room (Which Ginny had decided _was_ indeed, a cupboard). Once they had gotten adjusted, they all sat there awkwardly. Ginny finally broke the silence.

"Harry, it's okay-"

"-It's okay?" He cut her off, looking at her angrily. "It's _okay_? It's _not_ okay, Ginny! My friends and family-" His voice began to crack. "-They all just looked at me like I'm worse than _Voldemort_. _Worse_ than _Voldemort _!" The dark-haired young man grabbed his head. "And my mind is about to burst in pain, with all these _memories_, from the lives of people, most of whom were dead in the ground before even _Dumbledore_ was born, that are _not_ me, but also somehow _also_ me." He quickly wiped the tears rolling down his cheeks, before flipping his head towards her. "So, _no_, Ginny, It's _not_ _okay_." The redhead sighed.

"I meant it's okay if you want to rest your head in my lap." Harry had the decency to look apologetic for snapping at her, before slowly and apprehensively placing his head on Ginny's upper legs, allowing her to stroke his hair, while Luna propped up his legs and began to caress them. Thinking to herself, she quickly whispered the spell for the Patronus, as well as a message.

Kingsley was frustrated. He was tired. And now, he was wet.

He'd apparated into Wizarding London, heading to the Ministry send a lookout for the boy discreetly, but the rumor that Harry Potter had gone missing eventually spread like Wildfire. He could see the front cover of _The_ _Prophet_ tomorrow: _"Incompetent School teachers and Aurors lose The Chosen One."_

He then tried looking for Harry in Muggle London, but had ended up being chased by Death Eaters down an ally. Now, he was sitting behind a dumpster, in the rain, at midnight. And there still was no word of Harry.

He, of course, felt bad for the way he and the rest of the group initially reacted. But what stunned him more than Harry's display of power was the way that Severus and Alastor had insinuated that Harry was using Dark Magic, and that Albus had not argued against it. After hearing a brand-new Prophecy, which said that Harry was the only one able to vanquish Darkness, the first thing that came to their minds was that he obviously must be using _Dark Magic_?

Sometimes, he felt that nearly everyone in the world had it out for Harry. Poor young fellow probably never caught a break in his life.

Suddenly, he saw a bright light approaching from around the corner. Taking out his wand, he readied for a fight, only to see a whispy Horse made of light walk towards him. Arthur and Molly's only daughter's corporeal Patronus.

"_Luna and I have found Harry. We're back at the School. Wait till tomorrow to regroup, because I don't think he's ready to talk to anyone else yet." _And with that, the Horse gave an ethereal, ghostly whinny, before fading away.

The tall black Auror gave a sigh of relief. The boy was safe, for now.

Hearing a pair of twin cracks behind him, a brief flash of lightning illuminated the world so Kingsley could see a pair of long, hooded shadows, evidently at the entrance of the ally. _Time to go_, he thought. He was about to disapparate, when two quick _Accios _robbed him of the band he'd been wearing and his wand, which had been in a grasper by his pocket.

Kingsley felt panic begin to overwhelm him. He'd lost his wand. He couldn't apparate. He was trapped. A voice spoke out.

"We know you're there. You can come out." It was a young man's voice. The voice sounded gentle, almost alluring, with the tone of a loving parent. Getting up, Kingsley squinted, trying to make out the two figures in the stormy night.

"Who are you two?" He asked. The one who'd spoken gave a hearty laugh, while the other sighed in irritation.

"It's funny how time can hide the people you know from you, isn't it?" The first one asked. "You might not be able to recognize me, However," He jerked his head towards his companion next to him. "You'll definitely know him." The lightning flashed again, this time illuminating the two strangers' faces. That mere instant was all Kingsley Shacklebolt had needed to recognize the second stranger. It was a face that he'd seen from his days at school…but it looked like no time had him passed by. The face of the second was all he needed to identify the first.

"_You?_" He inquired falling on his backside, groveling away as the two approached him. "Why? How?" The second one answered.

"That's what magic does, when in the proper hands." He said. Kingsley could not believe this. It was a prank of the twins'….a trick of the light…..a hallucination…something, anything that made this not real. In the wind, he could hear a soft, haunting melody.

"Please…." He begged. "…don't-"

Lightning struck for the third time, accompanied by immediate thunder, a third, albeit muffled _crack_, and (oddly) a bright green light filling the alley.

When it cleared, the two figures blinked their eyes, to see another, squatting while perched on a garbage can, with his wand extended. The first young man gave another rich laugh.

"Figures." The third man jumped off the can, walking up to the first, embracing him.

"Hallo, Mein Lieber." He said. "Took your time chatting him up, so I thought I'd take care of him."

"Well done," The second said sarcastically. " Now can we go?" The other two nodded, and with a crack, all three were gone.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had been left on the ground of the alley, in the rain. He was not frustrated anymore. Not frustrated. Not tired.

Just wet.

Wet and dead.

**Chapter 6. Loving in Remembrance**

(This next part was the stuff with sexual content. You guys read and decide whether it should've been removed, at a story that was an M rating.)

Herumases was attempting to relax, but it would not come. He was too haunted by his visions:

_The dark smoke cloud and bright fire filling the room, with a pair of eyes appearing, followed by an evil laugh, and the screams of innocents….._

…_..The temple of Sakhmet crumbling into dust…_

…_Renenet cradling him, crying, screaming his name into the night….._

"Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry opened his eyes. The three of them were still packed like sardines in the cupboard the Room of Requirement had made for him. He was still resting on Ginny's lap. And his head still bloody hurt.

"Yeah?" He responded, turning his head up to face her. The beautiful girl had a look of concern on her face, the shadows of which were accentuated by reflected light from the sun streaming into the room, and the unclosed cupboard.

"You were mumbling some language in your sleep." She admitted, embarrassed to have woken him up over something so small. "Does it have to do with a past life?"

The instant she said it, Harry felt a thousand images flash by him, all of a warm and sandy place, with refined architectural structures, statues of gods, obelisks, and…..pyramids.

"Yes" He groaned as he felt another surge of pain in his head. Ginny looked pitifully at him, rubbing his neck.

"What were you remembering?" She asked.

"Hout-ak Ptah….Waset.." He muttered. He heard Ginny laugh. Damn, she was hot. He then felt her begin to tickle his ear.

"I don't know what that is, Harry." She whispered softly. He felt himself smile, trying to correlate it into English.

"Err….Egypt, Thebes." He paused, trying to translate time periods. "It was a decades after Ramses the third… basically, the end of the Egyptian empire." He gave another moan. "My damn head hurts. I don't know how to stop the pain."

"Maybe if you were given relief, would it help you, Harry?" Luna asked, waking up and still snuggling Harry's thighs. The other two looked at her.

"Relief how?" Ginny inquired. Luna gave her a look as if she was crazy for not understanding.

"Through orgasm, of course!" Both Harry and Ginny sat up immediately, turning red and flustered, giving a fleeting look to the other, before turning away.

"Luna!" Ginny growled, unable to believe her friend's words. "We're not going to whack Harry off!" At this, the blond girl frowned.

"I don't think we'd be whacking Harry off of anything, Ginny." She replied. "I doubt Harry would derive pleasure and subsequent climax from being smacked off of a structure. What I meant was, you, as Harry and you are obviously attracted to each other, could stimulate Harry's organ and prostate with your fingers."

Harry couldn't believe this. Luna Lovegood, Sweet, innocent, naïve Luna Lovegood, was practically telling Ginny to strip Harry down, rub him off, and finger him to relieve a headache. Ginny apparently couldn't believe it either.

"Harry is not attracted to me, Luna." She insisted, her hair seeming to literally pale in comparison to her fast-reddening face. Harry felt a surge of pain in his (metaphorical) heart. Why would Ginny think that?

"Actually, Ginny, I am." He said quietly. Seeing her beautiful creamy brown eyes look down into his with shock, he looked away quickly, afraid that he might have upset her. Instead, to his shock, she grabbed his chin and turned his face to hers, before pulling him into a gentle kiss.

The gentle kiss didn't stay gentle for very long, as both Ginny and Harry dissolved into a passionate, war-like frenzy of flurrying tongues. Instantly, the cupboard began to grow, while the room in general compressed, leaving Harry, Ginny and Luna on the bed of a room that would be expected in a beach-side inn, with a pale-pink paint along the walls, beige sheets on the mattress, and a velvet armchair in the corner.

Ginny gave him a look, almost asking him if he was sure, and he nodded. After all, his past lives had done this before he had, so it wouldn't be a problem for him. Wouldn't It?

Luna, who apparently wanted to watch, got up from the bed, seating herself on the armchair. Both Harry and Ginny felt bad for doing this in the first place, and didn't have the hearts to ask for her to leave, so they said nothing.

Harry nervously began to take his shirt off, unsure of himself. However, once it was off, he felt no fear, seeing the look in Ginny's eyes. It was one of pure lust, which he had recalled from many faces. He was nervously undoing his belt buckle, but the redhead grasped his hands.

"Let me," Ginny whispered silently. Obeying, leaning back on his palms, Harry watched her fumble with his belt buckle, before succeeding in removing it, and also his jeans, before lying on his back. Several quiet moments of held breath passed. "Harry?"

"Mmm?" He half-asked, half-moaned, unable to trust himself with anything as complicated as speech.

"Could you, errr," He could hear her cough nervously here. "Lift your hips, perhaps, so I could get this off?"

Oh. Right. His underwear was still on. Damn, between his nerves, his excitement, and the billions of memories causing his brain physical pain, he could just not think clearly. As he lifted his bum and lower back off the bed, Harry felt Ginny give the back of his boxer-briefs a tug, exposing his..._backside_...first, which she and Luna couldn't really see anyways, before pulling the front down as well, until they were off of his body.

Another round of tense silence deafened the room. Harry could still barely wrap his mind around the fact that he was naked in front of two beautiful young women, both of whom were close friends of his, and was probably becoming visibly more excited by the minute. As time trickled forward, he began to grow nervous as to why Luna and Ginny were also silent. Was Ginny nervous? Did she change her mind, and not want to do this? What if she did do this and ended up being ashamed? Or perhaps it was his body? Was he repulsive? Did he not size up to-

His train of thought was cut off by a well-oiled hand grasping him firmly. He bucked his hips slightly, internally thanking the room for the oil. He eagerly awaited for Ginny to continue. Which she did.

Ginny couldn't believe that fate had just decided to plop the bloke she had the hots for in front of her, with absolutely _no_ clothes, asking her to do things that she only knew about from the books some of her sultrier dorm mates possessed. She, in fact, _refused_ to believe it. So instead, she thanked chance and luck for the opportunity, even if Harry would avoid her afterword. Her attraction to Harry had more to do with his personality then it ever had to do with his form. Not that his form was unappealing. Not in the least.

Oh fuck, who was she fooling? He was hot.

In truth, she was completely unsure of what to do. She had, obviously, been educated about sex by her mother. But, the thing was, when most parents, or adults in general, gave children 'the talk', the objective in mind was to educate them on the anatomical differences between males and females, where babies come from, and the horrors of puberty, as opposed to teach the child about sex itself (I.e. Techniques, experience). So, having no real knowledge, Ginny was left to figure out what to do by herself.

As the oil jar appeared in her hand, the redhead took off the top, allowing some of the oil to dribble into her hand, before setting the container down and rubbing her hands together. She tentatively reached a hand forward, before grasping..._it_.

His brain felt like putty. _Merlin_, this was...

Oh.

Wow.

He really had no idea that a finger could feel so good _there_.

Come to think of it, he didn't think _anything_ could feel so good _there_. After all, to him, it was only important enough for him to notice if it was not functioning properly. In fact, most of his anatomy was really only significant to him because of what it did, and if it correlated to what it was supposed to do.

He, of course, remembered this specific "act" happening in several past lives, but he initially dismissed it, thinking it was only for a mundane desire, that was when his mind was less advanced.

But what Ginny was doing to his anatomy gave each part a new significance to Harry. He gripped the sheets as she continued.

Was she _that_ terrible? Was Ginny so _awful_ at what she was doing that Harry had to be bloody _clinging_ to the blankets for dear life? She must have been, because as of yet, the black-haired Adonis had not shown signs of enjoyment. He was wide-eyed, white-faced, and completely rigid.

Well, since _all _of him was rigid, she guessed that was a good sign. Maybe she should try...

Merlin, this was uncomfortable. What girl in her right mind would ever do this? Using her hands for stimulation felt more pleasant, even if her hand was the one slowly coaxing him open. But this? Disgusting. Made her feel like she was half-choking on something.

_Amazing_. He could hardly believe how amazing this was. While her mouth was nice, her hand was even...

Harry knew it was going to happen before the signs were showing. He didn't want it to end early, mainly out of fear of dissatisfying Ginny. But with one hand on him and the other _Ahhhh_...in him, he felt it build inside.

Luna watched in interest as Ginny and Harry progressed forward. Harry was lost in a sea of his own passion and pleasure, while the redhead was focused on the task at hand. Or was it _in_ hand?

Oddly enough, she noticed that a pale, shimmering light had appeared Harry's body, which seemed to be of many shifting colors. The light grew stronger with each passing moan from Harry. It also caused a red haze to flicker around Ginny. The light was growing brighter and brighter, as Harry was unable to contain himself.

"Ginny.." Harry murmured. She looked at him while trying to pick up the syncopated pace with the hand that was on him, and the now two fingers in him. "Ginny...Ginny.." He continued to repeat her name, the breaths between each repetition getting shorter and shorter. She decided to work faster. "Ginny..Ginny..GinnyGinnyyyGin-" And he collapsed upon the bed, his heartbeat slower, as he spasmed onto her hand.

Then there was another _bloody_ awkward silence.

Harry had taken a quick shower, and Ginny had _thoroughly_ washed her hands with soap, before the three were ready for the Order meeting that Dumbledore had sent messages about last night. Said Order meeting, happening again in the hospital wing, was scheduled for 8:30, and it was already approaching 8:15.

Admittedly, Harry had not really wanted to go to the meeting, mainly because he thought he would be isolated by the rest of the Order, or even worse, subject to experimentation of some sort, like a lab rat. As hard as he tried, he could not remove the image of their fear-stricken faces from his mind. Still, Luna and Ginny had convinced him to come along.

Jogging from the Room of Requirement, they made it there surprisingly before anyone else, with only Madam Pomfrey being in the room. She looked surprised that they were there the earliest.

"Miss Lovegood, Miss Weasley, you may help yourselves to the breakfast buffet." She said, gesturing to a table set up against one wall, with various platters of breakfast food. She then turned to Harry. "Potter, come with me, we're doing a quick checkup."

The witch escorted Harry behind a green hospital curtain in the corner, which hid the only remaining hospital bed. She pulled out her wand, muttering a spell. Harry noticed that she didn't meet his eyes.

"You can go." She said in a monotone. Getting up, Harry walked out from behind the curtain to see Order Members piling into the room. Crossing the room over to the breakfast bar, he stopped halfway when Ginny and Luna, sitting at the one end of the long table from last night that was closer to the door out of the Hospital wing, gestured that they'd already gotten a plate for him. Sitting down at the end of the table, with Ginny to his right and Luna to his left, he watched as everyone began to grab breakfast.

Taking a bite of his toast, Harry stared at his plate in boredom. Two eggs over easy, a piece of toast, four small sausages, with a glass of pumpkin juice. Lifting his head to thank Ginny and Luna, the sight he saw made his eyes bulge (among other things). The redhead was slowly eating a sausage off a fork, while Luna was demonstrating some…_suggestible_ methods of eating a banana.

_Minxes,_ He thought, gently lifting his foot and pressing it against Ginny's knee. They continued to play footsy, until everyone sat down. The meeting had started.

Clearing his throat, Dumbledore sat up. Everyone's attention was on him.

"Before we begin, I'd like to apologize, on behalf of everyone, to Harry for the reaction we all had last night." Everyone in the Order nodded in earnest, looking apologetically to Harry. Unfortunately, he did not feel so eager to accept their apology.

"No, it's fine," He smirked, heavy sarcasm and cynicism in his tone. "You don't have to feel obligated to apologize, since you're obviously all so bloody terrified that I'm going to make you drop in the next minute. So, if you are truly afraid of me, you might as well leave now, and go live like the rest of the wizarding world." There was a silence, as the words stung.

"Don't you _dare_ act like that." To everyone's surprise, Molly Weasley was standing up in her chair, glaring at her favorite (_adoptive_) son. "You know that we all love you and care for you. I'm the first to admit, we panicked last night, and that wasn't fair to you, as you've earned our trust. But everyone at this table loves and cares about you, and if you don't know that, I guess we should _all_ leave."

The room was silent yet again. No one would ever suspect Molly Weasley of giving Harry a tongue-lashing. Of course, it wasn't the full-on rant that she would've given to her own sons, but it was enough to make Harry looking at the floor in shame for his harsh words. He slowly nodded.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. The redhead woman tilted her head towards him, signifying her thanking him for apologizing. With another slight interval of silence, the meeting moved on.

"Alright," Dumbledore had the room again. "We are all here mainly because of the importance of this new prophecy." At this, his eyes, as well as the rest of the tables', were fixed on the three youngest members, at the other end of the table. "Did you three mull over things last night?" Ginny cleared her throat, before returning the Headmaster's gaze.

"Luna and I understand a bit more than everyone else, since we talked to Harry, but I think he should explain it himself." All eyes were now on Harry. Nervously rising from his chair, he looked at down the table of highly trusted people, before taking a deep breath.

"What I'm about to tell you...it will change everything you know. About the world, about life and the afterlife, about Prophecies, about magic." He explained slowly. He heard Ron give a chuckle.

"What involving you doesn't?" He asked lightheartedly, bringing smiles to the group. Harry gave a silent nod of thanks to his best friend, before continuing.

"The word, Zroantyss," This perked up everyone's attention. "It doesn't mean anything. It was designed, created, and uttered, only with the intention of restoring my memories."

"Memories?" Hermione frowned. "Of what?" What followed next would have to be said delicately, as to not make them think he'd gone mad.

"His past lives." Luna explained in a dreamy tone. "Reincarnations." A murmur ran through the group. Most of them had heard the prophecy mention something along the lines of past lives, but they still couldn't really believe it.

"Reincarnations_?_" Bill asked, turning to Harry. "No offense, Mate, but isn't that stuff made-up?" Harry shrugged.

"Is there any way you can make me prove it to everyone?" The dark-haired youth inquired. The Eldest Weasley son thought for a minute, before quickly pulling an object out of his satchel. It was a smooth, pale stone tablet, with hieroglyphs on it. On the back, there were four figures: a blue-skinned man with a headdress and a flute, a feminine figure with two snake heads, a black-skinned man with a spider body (standing up, taking the portion that would've been the lower torso) and a dark haired, pale woman with black wings and a dress to match above them all, kneeling with her arms outstretched.

"Where is this from?" Everyone groaned, seeing the hieroglyphs as a dead giveaway.

"Bill, it's _obvious_ where that came from." Charlie argued, only to be shushed by his older brother, who looked at Harry with intent. Harry looked at the tablet, taking it in, before shrugging.

"I can't tell you where that was made, Bill." He answered finally. Most of the room gaped at him like he was an idiot. The curse breaker, however, looked completely taken by surprise.

"Why?" The redhead inquired, looking very confused. "You could've just said Egypt." Harry gave a sigh.

"Because that tablet is a hoax: the stone is marble, which was really never used by the Egyptians for anything. The slab is shaped in a manner that only East Asia was really fond of using. The four figures on the back, though made in the style of Egypt, are gods from other cultures, with the blue man being Krishna from Hindu myth, the snakelike woman being Coatlicue from Azteca lore, the dark figure being Ananzi, an African trickster, and the woman with black wings whose spread in the manner Isis might be is the Irish Morrigan. And," he continued, looking at the hieroglyphs. "The words written on the tablet are in the Egyptian writing system, but instead of each word represented by a character, they are spelled out. Not abbreviated, like the Egyptians did for names. And the words are romanized Hellenic Greek, reading as 'Property of Gringotts, with the intent of tricking ', but with English sentence structure."

Everyone, Bill especially, looked shocked. As many turned their eyes on the eldest son of the Weasleys, Bill slowly and cautiously sat down, staring down at the table.

"He's errrrr...he's-he's right." He finally admitted. Harry chuckled, moving on.

"Most of the past lives I've experienced follow a pattern." He explained. "All of the incarnations were powerful, so they were wizards," At this, there was a huff of indignation from Ginny, Hermione, and Professor McGonagall. "_And_ witches," he added quickly, assuring them he was not being sexist. "..whom were notable in their societies. In each life, there was also an opponent of extreme magical ability."

"Been kicking Dark Wizard arse since before you were _re_-born, have you Harry?" One of the twins teased. At this, everyone laughed. Even the dark-haired youth smiled.

"Each life usually had a person who they would fall in love with." Harry continued. "In some cases, they were Muggles, but usually, they were witches. Now, the prophecy requires that I find them all, from thirty different lifespans."

"But Harry," Hermione began, frowning. "Don't you see a problem in finding all these women?" Harry didn't correct her, instead answering.

"There isn't really a problem, at least one that I see." His brunette friend gave a sigh.

"Well, let's say, for each life, you only live about 17 years." Harry chuckled dryly. She wasn't that far off. "So that's 17 years, times 30 lives, meaning your accumulative lives would be 510 years in total. Even if they were back to back, with one life starting as the past one ended, if you subtract 510 from 1981, when you were born, that goes back to the end of the thirteenth century, which we already know is not where your cycle started (unless you were a historian or curator some time ago), as you were able to identify traits of art from the ancient Egyptians, Classical Hellenistic Greece, and other place that are from the B.C period." The retention and figures that the girl had drawn up in her head stunned practically everyone, except an unfazed Harry.

"_And_.._.?_" Hermione sighed in frustration.

"Even most _wizards_ don't live past 150. The longest lifespan ever recorded, for a wizard, at least, was Geralsda Von Wrinkleton, and she only managed 129. So, for any of your past _'lovers'_ to be alive, they'd have to be born at least after 1867. Add in the age interval of seventeen years, that would only be 7 out of 30 who could possibly still be alive, all of whom would be older than 30, _obviously_ not capable of fighting in an army."

"We manage." Lupin grumbled quietly. But everyone else was awaiting Harry's response. The boy chuckled.

"That _would_ be a valid point, Hermione, except for the little variable I forgot to mention." The brown-haired girl looked slightly confused, but nodded for him to continue. "When I would die, any witch who I had loved from that life would have a powerful, subconscious charm imparted on her, doing the unthinkable. It halted the aging process in it's tracks, stopping them from dying even on accident. Even for those whom died before me, or were Muggles, there were other forms of magic, in their own right, that ensured that I will meet them again in some way or another. I suspect they won't be happy that I'm the reason they're immortal." The sounds of the room were hushed and nearly inaudible.

"So," Ginny broke the silence. "Just for clarity, the breakdown is that somewhere in the world, right now, there are twenty nine ancient, powerful, immortal woman out for your blood because you left them alone, immortal and without any say in it, and six others who will be eventually." Harry shook his head in the affirmative.

"More or less," he said. "Though some aren't really that old. We still need to find them all, fast."

"Should we start with the oldest first?" Dumbledore asked. Harry didn't point out the irony of the headmaster being the one to say that.

"No." Harry said, shaking his head. "We want to start with the one from my life in Egypt, Renenet." At the mention of his favorite country, Bill's eyes widened.

"Egypt?" He blurted. "Where? What time? Whose reign?" Harry grinned at the demanding way he had asked the questions.

"Egypt at the End of the New Kingdom (which was 1066 to 1065 B.C.E), particularly in Thebes." The Eldest Weasley looked excited at the prospect of returning to the crowning jewel of all the Middle East, while Dumbledore looked unsure on something.

"I am not so sure it is wise for you to leave the school, Harry. While you are admittedly leaving in three weeks for your graduation, I feel that you should stay here while we to retrieve your friend." The Headmaster's words made Harry's eyebrows scrunch. He did not like the idea of being told to stay home, like a child, while the rest of the group tried (and failed) to catch Renenet.

"Two problems with that plan, headmaster:" Harry began. "One, You don't know her at all, and Two, she won't trust you. She'll probably only be able to recognize me by my aura, so if she doesn't see any trace of me, she won't come quietly. Tell me, do you feel like going up against a powerful, agile, chaotic, Three thousand and eighty-eight year old witch?" The room was quiet again. "I _will_ find her with or without the Order's help, regardless of what you say." The old wizard contemplated for a minute.

"Alright," He agreed. "I can let you and whoever else you need leave by next Friday to Egypt, only if you are back by that Sunday. Just tell us who you need." It really took him no time.

"Ginny, Luna, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Bill, Charlie, Tonks, Remus, Fleur and..." Looking through the faces of the Order members, he frowned. "Where's Kingsley?"

"He didn't report back last night." Moody explained. "Doubt it was any trouble, Shacklebolt's a big boy, all grown up, he can take care of himself, but we'll look into it later today."

"In any case, Harry," Dumbledore cut in. "As Miss Lovegood and Miss Weasley are underaged, they cannot accompany you." This was followed by a lot of protests of it unjust, excluding, and cruel. Surprising that all of it came from just two young women.

"_Ginny!_" Molly scolded. "I will not let you go until you are of age!"

"_Mum_, what does it matter?" The girl demanded. "I'll go register to be an adult at Gringotts, Bill will take me!"

"You're not finished with your education-"

"If I might, Molly," Professor McGonagall cut in. "I can help tutor these girls so that they might graduate _this_ year, as opposed to next year." The Weasley Matron gave the Head of Gryffindor a shocked look.

"Minerva, it's _three weeks_ till they take their final exams-"

"And you might be surprised what a young woman can do if she sets her mind to it." The woman assured her. "I'm sure these girls want _nothing_ more than to leave Hogwarts with their four friends."

"It's settled, then." Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Miss Weasley and Miss Lovegood will work hard to graduate this year, and on Friday, Harry and his small team will leave by Portkey to Egypt. Any issues?"

"One." Harry said. The room turned to him.

"Ren's going to kill me."

**Chapter 7. Midnight Thebes**

On that Tuesday afternoon, right after their last class (Transfiguration), Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been pulled aside by Professor McGonagall. The usually stern and hardened woman looked tired, and exhausted, as well as every one of her years. She said nothing, instead gesturing for them to follow her. Bad news, evidently.

As they trailed after their House Head, the group met up with Neville. He looked like he was about to ask several questions, primarily related to where they were going, but seeing the look on McGonagall's face, he just decided to follow them.

Eventually reaching the Deputy Headmistress' office, they all entered her office, where Ginny and Luna, overseen by Remus, were finishing their 6th year exams, early. Seeing the five newcomers enter, the two girls frowned, as did the werewolf, all unsure of why they were there. Professor McGonagall said nothing, instead pointing to a glowing blue rope that had been lying on the desk. Picking it up, she gestured for each of them to grab a portion, which they did. In the next second, they were on a hillside, under a small, but, wide reaching tree.

Harry was surprised, as he hadn't felt the typical effects of the Portkey, but looking around, he saw that Ron and Neville were on their backs, while Ginny, Hermione and Luna were all in various squatting or sitting positions, with Professor McGonagall and Remus on their feet, but still slightly winded. Seeing a completely fine Harry, Ron frowned.

"How'd you manage to stay fine?" He asked, getting up. "You're usually terrible at stuff like this." Harry snorted.

"Thanks, mate," He said sarcastically, helping a nauseous-looking Neville to his feet. "Guess this is the first time I've had to use a Portkey after I found out the special news." He turned to Professor McGonagall. "Why are we here?"

In the next instant, he saw the rest of the Order appear, looking grief-stricken. Dumbledore and Snape were standing by a floating, long wooden box. It suddenly clicked to Harry.

"Kingsley." He whispered softly. Behind him, Hermione gave a small gasp, clasping her hands to her mouth. Turning, he saw his closest friend begin to cry in shock, choking out sobs as Ron came up behind her to drape an arm over her shoulder. Harry also saw Ginny begin to cry, with Luna patting her on the back.

"We found him in an Alley." Dumbledore explained, his expression masked with apathy. "I thought we should give him a little ceremony."

While little, the service went on for at least an hour. Dumbledore talked about how calm Kingsley was able to be, throughout any circumstance. Tonks (features dulled, hair blackened) went up and shakily talked about how the Auror was an excellent tutor, and how he was always so nice to her, until she broke into tears, and had to be taken aside to be comforted by Mrs. Weasley. Finally, Mad-Eye hobbled to the center of the semi-circle they had formed under the tree, and went on to gruffly recount his memories of training the young Auror. All the while, his entire face kept scrunching, as the Ex-Auror attempted to hide his anger and sadness. When the funeral was over, Harry walked up to the casket. Everyone took this as a sign to walk away. Except, of course, Ginny and Luna. Each girl leaned their head on one of Harry's shoulders.

"It's not your fault, you know." The redhead said softly. The young man snorted.

"Oh yeah?" He challenged. "How do you figure? That Kingsley would still be out wandering all of Britain at night if he hadn't been looking for me?" He looked down at the still-floating coffin, now hovering above a square hole in the ground. "Try all you might, you can't convince me that I'm not the sole reason that he's in this box." With each word, the wind grew stronger, the clouds gathered closer, and the sky darkened. Luna put an arm on his shoulder.

"Don't focus on your anger." She whispered. "It only forces your magic to channel into chaotic manifestations." Harry turned to her, his green eyes piercing into her gray ones. "Channel it into a goodbye to Mr. Kingsley, as a way of thanking him." Harry paused. How could he possibly say goodbye to Kingsley? The wizard was dead. He couldn't appreciate any magic, great or small.

Suddenly, three memories emerged:

_A small wooden staff in his hands, as he stood as a child before Ramses XI. Clenching his fists, he concentrated hard, as the staff began to shimmer…...…..._

_Arms and Hands extended in front of him, he eyed the mountain of dirt in front of him…...…..._

_Placing her fingers to the ground, she exhaled, a feeling of serenity passing through her, as the dirt began to open…...…._

Running the fingernails of one hand across the coffin's top, Harry exhaled calmly. With a sound like cracking ice, a stain began to spread across the wood, making it become transparent, like glass. Finally, following a crystalline chink, the entire box had become a pale purple crystal, with Kingsley Shacklebolt visible inside. Behind them, Harry could hear that the entire group had their attention on him. Ignoring them, he placed both hands on the top of the crystal coffin, gently pushing down.

As the box slowly descended into the hole in the ground, Harry made a pulling motion with both hands. Instantly, the piles of dirt by the hole were dragged towards the edge, falling on top of the coffin. Kneeling on the grass, Harry's hands touched the smoothed layer of dirt, which was now level with the grass around it. Breathing out through his mouth, he felt a soft breeze blowing through the air. Instantly, roots of grass shot from the ground, followed by dozens of kinds flowers.

Helping Harry back on his feet, Luna and Ginny followed him through the parting Order members, all of whom were stunned by the display of magic. Sighing, Harry felt tired. He needed to get to sleep.

_The boy opened his eyes to the sight of fire. He called "Eet!", but his father didn't answer. Getting up from his cot, he looked around his room, panicked. The door was blocked by flame. Running to the window, he jumped out._

_The entire village was under attack. And not by men. Demons soared through the air, and stalked on the ground, burning houses to the ground and ripping apart villagers. He saw no sign of his family. A creature, that looked like a man the head of a crocodile, lunged towards him, only for a bright light to shine, inexplicably making the demon disintegrate into ashes._

_"Nakht!" He yelled. His older brother didn't answer. A blood-red vulture-like creature flew at the boy, who had broken into a run, but the same light shot at it, making it screech and explode, acidic slime raining down onto a troop of long-necked lions, who roared in agony. He ran along further. "Nanu!" His sister didn't respond either._

_"Mewet!" The boy screamed, before waiting for the longest time. There was no reply from his mother. The young boy sank to his knees. His face hit the dirt, as tears filled his eyes._

_"Mother," he whimpered quietly, as the tendrils of smoke and flames rose higher. "Please..."_

When Harry had woken up, he felt that his eyes were wet. Lifting himself up from his bed, he got dressed, walking down to the Common Room. Hermione was the only one already there, sitting on the couch by the fire. Placing himself next to his friend, he placed his head on her shoulder. The brunette idly flipped a page in her book.

"Couldn't sleep either?" She asked. Turning to her friend, she saw the tear-stains on his cheeks, and instantly adopted her concerned tone. "Harry, are you okay? What happened to you?" Harry smiled at her mothering tone.

"I was just had a flashback." He explained. Hermione raised an eyebrow, realizing that he was talking about his past lives, before leaning in, making sure there was no one else was listening.

"From when, and where?" She whispered. He chuckled inwardly. Inquisitive as always.

"It was from my life in Egypt." He explained.

"This was the life were you met Renenet, the girl we're going to look for this evening." It was a question, cleverly phrased as a statement. Harry nodded. Hermione closed her book.

"Do you mind telling me about it?" The bookworm inquired. Harry shook his head. Closing his eyes, he concentrated his memory.

"It was close to the end of the Egyptian empire." He started evenly. "That is, the end of civilization in Egypt when it was controlled and operated by _actual_ Egyptians, as opposed to those who were following the agendas of Xerxes, or Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, or some other foreigner." Hermione's eyes were wide with interest.

"So, did you experience the peak of the Empire's power?" She asked excitedly. Harry shook his head.

"Nah, it was already declining long before I was born, in the 17th year of the reign of Menmaatre Setpenptah –Ramessu, (Rameses in Greek) the Eleventh." He added quickly, seeing Hermione's blank look. "I was born Herumessu (born of Horus), to two wizarding parents in a small, completely magical village." He reflected farther. "I had an older sister and brother, I played with the local children, I learned how to read and write. I lived a completely normal life, until the attack."

"What attack?" Hermione inquired, her face one of interest as she pressed Harry onward.

"The attack on my village." He explained. "I woke up to find my house was on fire, before climbing out of my window. The whole village was besieged by a horde of monsters." Harry felt himself stiffen. "Some people were killed by the fires...some were crushed by the collapsing of the buildings...and the unlucky ones got to meet the beasts face to face, before being eaten, or torn apart, or dragged away to an eternity of suffering. I'm pretty sure the last of those was what happened to my parents and siblings, since their bodies weren't found." He closed his eyes, trying to block his emotion. "I was seven. I never saw my family again."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said gently, rubbing him on the back. Harry felt the tears threatening to flow out.

"Y-you now," He gave a strangled laugh, "I-I-I went to bed mad at them? M-my brother and sister were teasing me, and I inadvertently threw my mother's favorite vase (and the poor cat as well) at them. It got into a four-on-one shouting match against them and my parents, until Eet-errr..._Dad_ told me I would not eat until the morning, s-so I stormed into my room, thinking that I wouldn't care if they-" He broke out into tears. "I-I-I-I never apologized, and t-they went to bed th-th-thinking that I h-hated them!" He was soon sobbing on Hermione's shoulder. The girl looked at her friend.

"They knew you didn't hate them," The brunette said gently, rubbing circles on his back. "Harry, good parents can see when their kids are being childish and petty." The crying lasted for several minutes more. "So what happened after your village burnt down?" Harry's green eyes turned to hers, piercing into her soul.

"I was found."

_"What's this?"_

_"Ah! It looks like this youth has survived!"_

_"Well, what are you waiting for, Akar? Wake up the poor boy!"_

_Herumessu felt a soft nudge against his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had fallen asleep on the now-cold sand, and it was early morning. Standing up, he saw that he'd apparently fallen at the bank of the Nile, which ran through his village. He was also surrounded._

_The strangers had arrived on a golden barque, that they'd landed on the banks near him. Both of those near him wore smooth silk clothes, with a breast plate of previous metals. However, the taller one, who was the more muscular one of the two, wore an unmistakeable headdress._

_"Pharaoh," Herumessu said, falling to his knees and bowing at the king of all Egypt's feet. To his surprise, however, the Pharaoh pulled him to his feet so that he stood tall._

_"No," The Pharaoh said sternly. "Stand proud and tall, my son, even before All of Egypt. Now tell us what happened?" The boy looked from the ruler of Egypt himself, to the other, stouter man, who had a thin nose, puffed lips, and small, mournful eyes._

_"I-I woke up last n-night, sir," Herumessu stuttered. "I-I woke up t-to find that-" His hands were shaking now. "Th-th-that my house was on fire. I-I-I got out of my house to see that our village was being attacked by monsters-" He began to cry. "I-I-I-I c-can't find my f-family." He fell to his knees, closing his eyes as tears slid down his cheeks. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked into the eyes of Egypt, and was again brought to his feet, as the Pharaoh placed a consoling arm around him._

"_Come, my child." He said, his eyes on the small boy. "Any son of Egypt, especially one who has had to deal with what you've had to, shall be welcomed in my home." Boarding the barque, the pair was greeted by women in lovely silk garbs. The eldest, who was also the most exquisitely dressed, squatted till she was level with Heru. Her face was kind, as she gently stroke the boy's cheek._

"_Who is this strong, young warrior?" She cooed softly, eyes darting to her husband, the Pharaoh._

"_He is the only survivor we found in the village." The Pharaoh explained, rubbing Herumessu' shoulder. "He cannot find his family." The woman's face saddened._

"_Oh, poor child. Come with me, my handsome one." He was given a bath and a new skirt, and prodded by the two princesses, before the queen herself sat him up on her lap, rocking him gently to sleep, singing a lullaby._

"So they took you in?" Hermione inquired. The dark haired boy gave the affirmative shake of the head.

"They raised me as their son, and their two daughters were like my sisters."

"How nice of them." Hermione smiled. Harry nodded again.

"Despite their many drawbacks, the Pharaoh and his Queen were always kind to me." At this, the bookworm frowned.

"What do you mean?" She asked. The boy sat up, elbows on his knees.

"They ascended to the throne at a time when the empire was fast fading. As much as they were kind, they were not very good administrators. They had no political skills, and instead of trying to revive the Kingdom of Egypt, they squandered the remnants of the dynasty's wealth to hold lavish festivals, to keep the elitists entertained."

"Did you have a special position in the government?" Hermione inquired. Harry nodded.

"I was the Magical Consul to the Pharaoh." He announced proudly. "I went through the magical communities in each district and gathered information for him, as he trusted me and considered me his son. Nothing happened in the Wizarding cities of the empire except under my watch. And then, everything went downhill."

"What happened?" His closest friend began to stroke his hair, getting him to rest his head in her lap. Harry closed his eyes, and began to recount the tale of how he let Egypt crumble and dissipate.

"It started when the Pharaoh passed into the next life."

"_Mother, Sisters." Heru called to the three women who had made him one of their own from when he had seen only 7 harvests to now, when he had seen 19. They were wearing the yellow shroud of mourning, their distinguished features slack with a misery that could not be put into words._

"_My son," Queen Tentamun embraced him, using her hand to draw his face close to her chest, before letting him go. Lifting his chin till his eyes pierced hers, she gave him a long look. "You must go." He opened his mouth to disagree with her, but she pushed a finger against it to silence him. "No, listen, my son. Egypt is in disarray. The empire is at it's end. The mortals who ruled at your father's bequest have already torn it apart. It will not be long before the Magicians who helped rule the House of Egypt are after you for that power. All of them are bloodthirsty men, ready to kill for power, like Seti-"_

"_-Your highness." A creeping voice was audible from behind them. Turning around, they saw Seti himself, a thin, tall man, around middle-age, who bore dark shadows around his eyes. And on his face, was one of pure greed. He smiled, showing slightly sharpened teeth. "I hate to interrupt such an emotional moment between you and your-" At this, he gave Heru a fleeting glance, followed with a distasteful look. "-your children," (The noble-born priest's polite way of saying 'your daughters and the orphan brat that you plucked from off the streets') "-but I think there is a slight issue of the rule over our kingdom, as your husband (my condolences) didn't choose a successor, and had no heir to his throne."_

"_There will be a discussion of Magical Egypt, and it's future, tomorrow morning." The Queen promised. She turned to Heru, stroking his shaved head. "Tonight, I think we all need some rest." Seti gave her and each of the princesses a deep bow, nodding curtly to Herumessu, before leaving. His mother grabbed his hands, giving him a frightened look. "Heru, you must leave tonight. He and others will not hesitate to kill you, to seize power. You are most notable among them to possibly rule Magical Egypt, and they know it. You must leave Thebes." With that, she turned and walked away, his sisters Tentamun the younger and Duathathor-Henuttawy following after her._

"What did you do?" Hermione asked.

_Herumessu's bedroom, like most in the palace, was an open room of stone, with a balcony overlooking the city, which was receiving a heavy storm. Heru himself was tossing and turning on his cot, trying to readjust the wooden headrest that he had, with the curtains around the bed drawn. Without warning, various magicians entered the room, surrounding where the bed and it's curtain were, looking at each other nervously. Hearing the noise, Heru sat up, squinting in the dark, before answering annoyedly._

"_Can it not wait till morning?" He demanded sleepily, slightly irritated by the awakening. One of the magicians whispered an incantation._

"_**Henkyt Spi.**__" The end of the bed closer to Heru's head broke, the wood becoming fluid and wrapping Heru's arms in place. The young man frowned, struggling to free himself._

"_What is the meaning of this?" He growled. Out of the Dark, Seti appeared, smiling and showing his sharp teeth._

"_We cannot let you rule Magical Egypt, young Herumessu." He explained calmly. "You see, you are a street-rat, born in a village. We are nobles, born in cities. We think it is not fair that you should rule, and we should not." He nodded to another magician, who stepped forth._

"_**Ihem**__!" The jet of light hit the young wizard in the face, and he slumped against the bed, unconscious. All the magicians eyed each other, before each pointed his staff towards the bed._

"_**Neser**__!" They all shouted. Fire shot from the ends of the conductors, before hitting the bed, sending it up in flames. Herumessu awoke again, and gave a scream of agony, before another 'Ihem' sent him falling back into unconsciousness. Soon, as the magicians inspected their work, the smoldering remains of the bed and the man were the only visible signs that there had been a fire. Those, and of course the smoke still lifting from the ashes._

"So that's it?" Hermione asked aloud. "You died? When did you meet Renenet?"

"No," Harry said, shaking his head again. "I didn't die, and I hadn't met Ren. Let me just continue."

"_Ah, my fellow magicians!" Spinning around, the assassins, or at least, the would-be assassins, turned in shock to see Herumessu emerge from the shadowy corner. "Burning some offerings for the gods, I see. Hoping to increase your chances of controlling Egypt? Shame, I don't think the gods accept Duplicates."_

"_Herumessu of Waset (Thebes), you are found guilty for conspiring to kill the Pharaoh!" Seti shouted. Pointing his staff at the young man, he shouted: "Get him!"_

_The fastet magician ran to Heru, ready to bludgeon him with a staff, but holding up a hand, Heru gave a lazy wave. "__**Waf Ze**__". This caused the man's back to shatter, sending him to the ground. Taking the dead wizard's staff, he whispered "__**Iaat Shebi Mi-neb**__", and the staff smoothed, morphing into an axe. As another magician ran at him, Heru let the axe go with a swing, which impaled the wizard, who gave a cry of pain, still on his feet._

"_Ah, poor Nahab," Heru sighed to the impaled magician, giving a tut of disappointment. "If only you had the skills to fight me." As a third magician ran to attack him, the young man extended his hand to the ax in Nahab's chest "__**A'nen Mi-neb**__". The Axe flew back into Heru's hand, and he met the next with a slice in the face. "You cowards disgrace Egypt."_

_Any continued speech was cut off by an arrow through his shoulder. Giving a moan of pain, Heru fell to his knees, turning to see the Pharaoh's guard streaming in, one of whom had the bow that fired the arrow. Seti walked up behind him, pulling his head up for all of them to see._

"_Do you all see this?" He growled, giving Heru's head a toss so that they could know that he was talking about the young wizard. "This scum killed three of the finest magicians in all of Egypt-"_

"_-Right after all of Egypt's finest magicians attempted to murder me." The adopted son of the Pharaoh and his wife spat out. "So I would like that to be taken into account before I am tried with murdering three of my attempted murderers."_

"_When was there an attempt on your life?" One of the magicians challenged. "We merely came into your room to converse with you when you cut three of our number down like a mad man."_

"_Right," Herumessu snorted. "It's not like you burnt down my-" Turning his head towards where his bed had been demolished by fire, he saw it now in pristine condition, even the silk curtains around it restored. He glared up towards Seti. "You set me up." The Wizard gave him a dark smile, before settling his face back into a scowl._

"_Guards! Take him to the prison." The Dark Magician ordered. "He shall be met immediately with death." Heru gave a chuckle. "What's so funny?" Seti demanded. The younger man looked into his eyes._

"_You seem to be under the impression that I'm coming quietly." He said. Closing his eyes, he whispered another incantation. "__**Kekewi**__." In that instant, his body morphed into shadows, before finally dissolving._

"Where did you go?" Hermione frowned, interrupting again. The dark haired boy sighed in frustration.

"I might get to that part." He said teasingly, turning to her "May I continue?" She blushed, nodding for him to continue.

_The shadow reappeared and reverted to it's original form in the wet, open courtyard in the center of the palace. Heru, whose shoulder was lightly bleeding, laughed at how he had escaped so easily. He ran out of the rain, and hurried as quickly as he could, to his mother's room, to tell her that he was leaving, only to find that the queen, and the two princesses, were already waiting for him._

_With a dozen guards._

"_Attack!" The guards screamed, charging. Herumessu reacted quickly to the first, second, and third, making them fall on their backs, but the fourth and fifth got him with spears to the stomach. Eyes looking at his mother and sisters, he saw the fear in their eyes, with a sinking realization._

_They believed he had killed the Pharaoh. As he was brought to his knees, one of the soldiers raised his khopesh, ready to kill him, until-_

"_**Kekewi.**__"_

_As he shot through the city, in the guise of smoke, Herumessu felt his injuries tearing at him. In his shadowy state, his vision was tinted, giving everything in his sight a pale greenish blue tinge. However, given his wounds, his sight would blur every few blinks, not helping, especially in the rain, and distracted him from his flight. But even more distracting then that was the wall that he had just impacted on._

_He fell onto the cold stone steps of the unidentifiable building, reverting back to his flesh and bone, just in time to feel utter agony. As the cold rain gnawed on his flesh, Heru felt consciousness flash through him repeatedly-in, out, in, out, hearing the faint echoes of voices, before finally collapsing from exhaustion._

_Waking up on a cot, Heru found himself in a cold, small- to medium-sized room. The numerous pillars helped stabilize the four walls, which depicted thousands of scenes of stories he'd heard about the gods. He sat up, feeling the bandages that had been wound around his injured shoulder, stomach, and leg, before looking around to see if there was anyone there, but no one entered through the single door. He tried getting up from his cot, but instantly felt pain shoot through his arm, falling on his back and giving a groan of pain._

_"Not feeling better, I suppose?" A voice asked. Heru turned to see a woman enter the room, dressed in priestly garbs with kohl-rimmed eyes. She was carrying a jug of water, and a variety of herbs. Sitting down by his bedside, she surveyed him up and down with a quick look, before applying the herbs. "You were pretty badly injured when we found you on the steps of the temple, and after the Courts issued their declaration, we were unsure whether or not we should toss you out in the rain._

_"Where am I?" Heru groaned, cradling his aching skull. The woman took his head in her hands, massaging it and coating it with herbs._

_"You're in the Temple of Sakhmet. Well-" she interrupted him from asking anymore questions. "-it's not necessarily a temple that's just to Sakhmet, but we call it so because a fellow priestess of mine is rumored to be Sakhmet herself." She paused what she was doing to give him a wide smile. "Get some rest, you'll need it."_

"Was that Renenet?" Hermione inquired. Harry gave a laugh, shaking his head. Then, he gave another laugh. Then a third. Soon, he had dissolved into a bout of hysterical chuckling, laugh so hard that he made practically no sounds. "What?" She demanded, waiting for him to stop.

"No," He said eventually, sighing and merrily wiping tears from his eyes. "Renenet would not like being compared a low-ranking priestess. And there are practically no similarities in personality between her and Merit, the first girl I met in the temple. I met Ren several days after."

_Getting up, Herumessu gave a slight groan of pain, clutching the bandages Merit had wrapped around him._

_"Hurts, does it?" Turning to the door, he saw a woman, who had seen about 19 harvests, like he had. She was dressed in the clothes of a high-ranking priestess, and the kohl lining her eyes had been drawn with precision and neatness. But she did not walk with the reservations and sanctity a priest of any gender was supposed to carry. No, her movements were proud and flamboyant and godly._

_Well, that was understandable, because she practically looked like a goddess._

"What?" Harry was demanding this time, as Hermione gave him a smug look.

"You were already _hopelessly_ devoted to her." She said proudly. Harry shook his head.

"No, I'm just describing her nicely because I love her now." This was met by a mocking _Sure_ from Hermione. "Can I go on?"

_Her body was as slim and curvy as the Nile, her healthy limbs adorned with various gold bangles. Her hairpiece draped around her shoulders, and her skin was a nice beige sheen, complimented by her sharp, pointed features. But most notable were her eyes, which were bright gold, the pupils slanted like a lion's._

"Lion's?" She frowned. Harry paused, wondering how to explain it.

"Ren…had a complicated story," He began. "She was found on the doorsteps of the temple, and they raised her from the inside. Some claimed she was a demon, some a freak child abandoned by her parents, but once she began to display abilities above the Ordinary level, there could be no denying that she had a connection with Sakhmet."

"Who's Sakhmet?"

"She's a fierce lion goddess in Egyptian myth."

"Hence the eyes," Hermione said with realization dawning upon her. She then frowned. "So, were the Egyptians black-errr-African?" Harry rolled his eyes, smiling at Hermione asking questions as usual.

"We certainly weren't like Yul Brynner in the Ten Commandments, or Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, Although-" He stopped, frowning to himself. "-Cleopatra was later, in the Ptolemaic Rule, with the Greco-Persians, so her appearance might be accurate." Whatever thoughts he had, he shrugged them off. "But we weren't tall, dark-skinned tribesmen. We were kind of like..." The reincarnate paused again, trying to think of an example. The fire in front of them was dying, and the dawn of morning was slowly peeking through the windows. "...Semitic."

"Odd, I always thought that the Egyptians were Africans." Hermione said. "Given that Egypt is located in Africa."

"We interacted with the Nubians and other local peoples," He explained. "Indeed, they had the stereotypical features of Africans. But, our language was more related to that of the Phoenicians and other people to the north and the east-"

"-the Afro-Asiastic languages," The brunette provided.

"-and had tamed our horses to let us ride them, something that our neighbors had not managed, but the far-off Mesopotamian kingdoms did." Harry continued. "So, that denotes a closer heritage between us and the peoples of the north than us and the peoples so close to us. Can I continue?" The brunette nodded.

"_Are you the chief priestess?" Heru ventured. The woman smirked, walking up to him._

_"And you must be the stranger that we took in." It wasn't a question. Walking up to him, the lion-eyed woman inspected Heru in circle around him. "Young," She stated, even though she was about his age. "Regal," At this, she touched his shoulder. "-Poised." The woman quickly added, placing a hand on the small of his back. "Handsome," She said, lifting his chin. The priestess continued pacing for a while, saying nothing, leaving deafening silence. Without warning, however, he suddenly felt a cool breeze as his kilt was removed. Spinning towards the woman, he was about to yell at her, when she silenced him, eyeing him predatorily. "And blessed by the Gods indeed."_

_Covering himself in embarrassment, Heru felt stunned. This was not regular priestess behavior, not at all. A priest or priestess was supposed to be dignified in manner, not act like some flirtatious saucy wench. Snatching his kilt from her, he redressed quickly, before turning back around to face her._

_"May I ask what your name is?" He half inquired, half snarled. The priestess smirked again._

_"My name is Renenet." She declared. "Priestess to the Lady Sakhmet."_

_"Are you the same priestess who is rumoured to be the Goddess Sakhmet herself?" Heru asked, with less hostility this time. At this, Renenet smiled, showing her remarkably white teeth._

_"Yes, I am. And you," She raised an eyebrow. "-must leave immediately."_

_"What? Why?" Heru demanded. The lion-eyed priestess snorted._

_"There is a price out for your head, in place by the will of new leaders of magical Egypt. A steep bounty." She explained. "As servants to the gods, it is not the responsibility of me or my house to turn you in. However, to hold you in the temple would be to ensure our death. So, we ask that you leave of your own volition, before we force you out."_

_"I need time to heal!" Heru cried out in shock, showing his bandages to the woman. Renenet, unfortunately, was clearly not impressed._

_"Ah, but of course," She pouted mockingly. "Such wounds show bravery, and no Prince of Egypt should have to suffer more pain than he already has for his valor."_

_"I was attacked in the palace, what is supposed to be the most secure place in all of Egypt, with no justification." He countered. _

_"Helping to kill the Pharaoh and single-handedly killing three of the most well-known Magicians in Egypt is not justification enough?" Renenet inquired sarcastically. Heru gave a groan of irritation._

_"My father passed into Osiris' realm in his sleep! Afterwards, the most powerful magicians in Egypt came into my room, and then tried to tie me to the bed and set it on fire. Fortunately, I tricked them with a magical copy, and was able to get three down before they practically called the entire royal guard in, with an illusion of the bed before it was burned, to incriminate me." He practically shouted in one breath. The Priestess blinked in shock, apparently not expecting for the prince to give her a full breakdown of what happened. Her eyes narrowed._

"_What are your intentions, staying here?" Renenet prodded. "I feel that you are not just trying to heal from your injuries." Heru gave her a look._

"_And what, might I ask, do you think I'm trying to do?" He inquired._

"_I feel like you are trying to prove your innocence." She stated. "Why else would you stay in Thebes? Everyone is out for your blood, but this is the best place to find things out, in terms of politics." The boy smiled sadly._

"_I am staying here to prove my innocence, if not to __**the**__ people, then to __**three**__ people." _

"_Whom?"_

"_My mother and my two sisters." There was a pause, as the priestess seemed torn between helping the young man and getting caught, with her whole temple to pay the price._

"_Fine," She relented. "You may stay here-"_

"_Thank you."_

"_-If," Renenet added. "You stay here as a servant." Heru nodded, indicating he had no problems with posing as a slave. With that confirmed, she nodded, before walking out._

"So, what happened after that?" Hermione inquired, sitting right next to Harry, eyes wide and greedy, thirsty for knowledge. Harry smirked.

"I'll tell you later." He said. And with that, Harry Potter got up, leaving behind a very irritated and dissatisfied Gryffindor Girl, whom just so happened to liken Harry to a lower part of the anatomy.

**Chapter 8. Theban Grievance**

On Friday in the late afternoon, the minute after the Trio's last class, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were led by Professor Sprout out by the Lake, as Neville had unfortunately had an accident earlier that week, meaning he couldn't go. Awaiting them, to their shock, were the four non-estranged Elder Weasley brothers. The quarter were standing by a small, dark red, wooden box-shaped building. One of the twins gestured to the door.

"After you, young masters." He said, in his typical, over-exaggerated manner. Ron and Hermione entered the building, taking the small steps to reach the off-the-ground door. Harry was about to follow, when he was promptly tackled to the ground in a flash of red. Blinking, he found himself pinned underneath Ginny Weasley.

"Didn't think you were leaving without saying goodbye, did you?" She inquired innocently, ignoring her brothers' requests to 'act decent'. Harry smiled.

"I gave you a goodbye hug this morning, if memory serves." He responded. Ginny shrugged.

"Fine," She stated, getting up off the ground and pulling Harry to his feet and turning to Luna, who was right by them. "I just thought a kiss would be more enjoyable for both our parties." The incarnate raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed?" He inquired, his grin widening as the Weasley brothers' protests grew louder. "Well, I think it's my responsibility as a gentleman and your friend to make sure you enjoy yourself." Leaning in, Harry pursed his lips. Closing her eyes, Ginny's features schooled themselves into a mask of patience, awaiting the kiss Harry slowly applied.

To her cheek.

Her eyes shooting open, Harry saw the redhead opening her mouth to protest, and took the opportunity to give her the kiss she really wanted. And then some.

Thirty Lives of excessively hormonal actions has some benefits.

Relinquishing his hold on Ginny's mouth, he smirked slightly at her wide-eyed expression. She looked slightly (extremely) dazed. In fact, she seemed _very_ light-headed. The second she started swaying, he reacted.

"Luna! Catch her, she's gonna-" He began, just as Ginny fell backward. Thankfully, the blond girl reacted quickly, gracefully catching the redhead. The youngest Weasley lazily grinned up at Harry.

"Have fun tracking down your three thousand year-old psychotic girlfriend." She giggled sleepily. "Please tell her not to kill you...that was amazing, and I want more." Harry laughed, nodding.

"Study hard, you two." He teasingly ordered, waving goodbye to Ginny and Luna. He stepped up the small stairs to enter the small building, ignoring the shocked looks of Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George.

Inside the small building, he couldn't say he was surprised to see that it was not as it appeared on the outside. Externally, it was about the size of a small to medium-sized room. Internally, however, Harry found himself walking down a long staircase covered in beige carpet, to a large room with a semi-circular table set up, all of the members Harry chose (minus the four Weasley brothers upstairs) already seated and in discussion.

He did not have much time to do anything, as within half a minute after Harry had gotten down, he found himself pinned up against the wall by Charlie.

"What the hell do you think you just did? Why are you playing around with my sister?" The Dragon Researcher spat in anger. Behind him, Fred and George were still looking stunned, and the rest of the group (minus Bill) were looking confused. Harry gave him a frankly amused look, not the slightest bit intimidated.

"I gave your sister a kiss goodbye." He said, in a bored tone. "That's hardly anything to make a fuss over." Especially in comparison to what he and Ginny had done before the kiss. Unfortunately, this answer did not appease Charlie, who, if anything, tightened his grip. Sighing, Harry closed his eyes. "_Hydromorphos_."

The next few seconds were a bit hazy. As his body turned into liquid, Harry felt himself slip through Charlie's grip, and hit the floor, before the blurry mindset lifted, and he transformed back to skin and bone. Quickly sliding under the second Eldest Weasley's legs, the dark-haired youth shot to his knees before wrapping his fingers around Charlie's neck, lifting him off the ground with surprising strength. The room was quiet.

"Now that I have your attention," Harry said, particularly to Charlie. "I can assure you that I will not play around with your sister's emotions. In fact, she's probably one of the thirty five." Ron, who had gotten up (to help Harry or Charlie, no one was sure) frowned.

"So what, she's just reincarnated from a past life?" Harry shook his head, relinquishing Charlie.

"No. Not all of them are from past lives, whether immortal or through another connection. There are actually several who are supposed to be from this life. Ginny's one of them. Or, at least, I'm pretty sure she is."

"Are you going to teach us how you turned to water just now?" Tonks blurted out. The green-eyed young man smirked.

"Maybe." Focusing on the group at large, Harry did a quick count: Hermione, Ron, George and Fred, Fleur, Remus, Tonks, Hestia, and Charlie. "Where's Bill?"

"Bill is shrinking the Port-Palace (One of Fred and Mine's greatest ideas yet)," George began. "He's then going to the Ministry, sign papers, will be traveling to Cairo alone, than will go through customs, get to the Egyptian Ministry of Magic building in Cairo, go through some papers there, and go to a hotel."

"After that, he's going to section off the regions of Egypt, and everyone is going to travel in a group, with you doing regular check-ups in each region." Fred continued.

"We should find your friend within at least two days." Lupin assured Harry. The dark-haired boy nodded, signifying he understood. "Is there anything that you think you should tell us about this girl?"

"Yes," The incarnate said, turning to the group at large. "Ren has an extraordinary supply of magical energy to draw upon. At her worst, she is challenge enough for several members of the Order, or of the Death Eaters."

"And, 'ow eez she, ven she eez at her best?" Fleur asked tentatively. As the room's occupants looked at him, Harry hesitated to answer. While he trusted most of them to hide this from the ministry, he did not think some were above informing other Order members, who might consider Ren a slight security problem.

Ok, maybe a national security problem.

Fine. A global security problem.

"She's brought a small army to their knees. Sent a spacious building, in it's entirety, into limbo. Conjured up a giant lion made of light to act as a shield. Ended a sandstorm. Started a hurricane." He saw everyone's eyes bulge out of their foreheads. Wincing internally, he added: "All in one day." Hestia Jones gave a whistle.

"Why'd she have to use all of those things in one battle?" Harry opened his mouth to recount the battle, only for Hermione to interject.

"Oh no you don't, Harry Potter." She growled. "You're not finished telling me the story you so brutally left me hanging on."

"Wait," Ron cut her off. "Can you tell us as well?" The dark-haired boy sighed.

"Should I start over?" He inquired, turning to Hermione. She nodded. "It's going to take awhile." He warned them. "I don't think we have that long." Lupin stared at him.

"Harry, just how quickly do you think we're getting to Egypt?" Harry frowned.

"Well, Bill's snatching a Portkey at the Ministry, isn't he?" Almost everyone practically laughed at this.

"No." Fleur said lightly. "Bill eez getting some 'pack-ee-jeez' approved by your min-iss-tree, before 'e gets on ze plane for Egypt."

"Yeah. Too dangerous to take a Portkey. So we've got time to kill, mate." Ron supplied, kicking back in his chair.

Harry sighed, and slowly began to retell the story of how his (well, Heru's) village was destroyed, how the Pharaoh found him and adopted him, and all of the major events that occurred between the day the Pharaoh's death was announced and when he met Renenet. Finishing, he looked to the group, all of whom (save Hermione) looked slightly stunned.

"Can I go on?" He asked. Hermione encouragingly nodded with vigor. Smirking, Harry/Heru went back to a months after he became the temple's servant.

_He had been scrubbing the floors near the back altars, when Merit ran in._

"_Heru!" She called, her face pale with fear. The young man looked up, smiling at the priestess, but this quickly faded when he saw her expression._

_"Merit, what's wrong?" He asked, shooting to his feet and walking up to the woman. She looked at him as if he was dying of some severe illness. Suddenly, he became very aware of what she was going to say, the instant before she did._

"_There was an official here, asking about you. The Head Priestesses are requesting that you meet with them immediately." She then dragged him by his arm off to some trivial direction._

_"Priestess__**es**__?" Heru inquired bewilderedly. "The one woman, Renenet, made it sound like she was the Sole Head Priestess." Merit shook her head._

"_Head Priestess Renenet is the Sole Head Priestess for the Goddess Sakhmet, but we have Fourteen Head Priestesses altogether." With that, they came to a stop in front of the room that he was staying in. Merit looked to him, gesturing that he enter. Inhaling deeply, Herumessu entered the room._

_Heru had a handful of guesses of whom the visitor was. Unfortunately, each of those guesses either wanted his head on a silver platter, or thought he was a criminal, and would therefore likely bring him to the first group of people. What a vicious bloody cycle._

_He was sitting on the bed in the quarters assigned to him by the temple. While not possessing the grandeur of his abode in the palace, this room had it's moments, with an earthy feel to it. When he was alone, there was a sweet, perfect silence that could help him relax._

_Unfortunately, he was not alone. With him were Thirteen of the Fourteen Head Priestesses. Each of the seven pairs were the two leaders of a Per Neteret._

"What the Bloody Hell are Per Neteret?" Tonks inquired. Harry sighed, turning to the Metamorphmagus. This would require some complicated explanations.

"The Temple was called Per Neterewet, which means 'House of the Goddesses' in our language." He explained. "It was essentially designed for Wizards and Witches to come and pray to any specific goddess, even though Amun-Ra was the Patron God of our city, Waset, which also had an on-and-off role as the capital. It was also where many young girls, usually witches, would learn magic. When they became old enough, they choose could become part of the temple permanently (even though muggles priestesses required royal blood) or else live as a citizen. If they chose to become a priestess, they also had to choose a Per Neteret, out of the Seven Choices. Each of the Seven Choices represented a central female deity to the Egyptian faith." The group nodded in understanding.

"_We must analyze the situation carefully." Said the matronly Priestess Netikerty, one of the two Heads of Per Wadjet, the House of Protection, to honor the Serpent Goddess, Wadjet._

"_There is nothing to analyze." Crone-like Priestess Satsobek, one of the two Heads of Per Neith, the House to the Hunting Goddess Neith, growled harshly. "A Member of the Court doesn't show up for thirty years, and the minute this brat (She jerked her head towards Heru) steps through the front door, they send someone. No questioning what they want."_

"_What are you suggesting, Satsobek?" The Priestess of Sakhmet, Renenet growled. The Priestess Thermuthis, one of Per Bastet's Leaders, and about Ren's age, tried to defuse the Lion-eyed witch._

"_Perhaps Priestess Satsobek is merely suggesting that the Royals want conflict with us?" She half-asked meekly._

"_Unlikely," Sighed Hunra, one of two Head priestesses of Per Heqet, dreamily. "The Royal Family is almost entirely made up of Non-magic users, and I see no reason for them to desire conflict. It's more likely that Satsobek was insinuating that they want the boy." This irritated Thermuthis._

"_I was attempting to mediate the conflict, Hunra. Not fuel it. If you ever paid attention, you might notice certain social cues like that. Obviously, your capacities are limited, especially since you follow the path of a frog."_

"_Don't insult my goddess, Thermuthis." Hunra said, with much more obvious edge to her voice. "I certainly don't insult the little kitten you worship." After the two pokes at Goddesses, the Group of Thirteen Priestesses began to dissolve into shouts of fury and anger. Heru tried to stop the closest conflicts, but thankfully they all ceased with the shout of one._

"_ENOUGH!" A Pulse shot through the room, quelling the fighting between the priestesses. Entering the room was an impossible old woman, bent with age. She wore a headdress that had two upward spiraling golden shapes, bearing similar resemblance to a pair of cow horns. The elderly priestess gave all of the women in the room a disgusted look, before turning and smiling to Heru._

"_Hello," She chirped cheerfully. "I am Priestess Esi, one of the Leaders of Per Hethert, the House of Hathor. You have met the other head of my house, Priestess Renenet." At this, she gestured to the young priestess, who had one of the women from the House of Nephthys in a death grip. A stern, chastising grimace from her elder House Leader made the Lion-Eyed girl relinquish her target. "Given that Sakhmet is an aspect of Hathor, we thought there was no better choice than Renenet."_

"_Mother Esi, I can-"_

"_Silence, girl." The ancient woman cut Ren off. "You are all a disgrace to this temple." She looked to each one of the other twelve priestesses besides Ren, her face becoming more angered by the minute. "Now, what is it that has reduced you all to a herd of mad hippopotami?" At this, Satsobek brought herself to the front._

"_Esi, this petty predicament has started from even pettier discussion." The woman explained lightly. Heru guessed that because she was closest in age to Esi, she was the second-in-command. "Your fellow Head of Per Hethert wants to keep the boy here, a decision that should've originally been made together, even though to do so is an outright declaration of war against the court, and the royal family."_

_At this, Esi nodded, contemplating the story. She then turned to the youngest priestess. "And what say you, Renenet?"_

"_Mother Esi," The lion-eyed girl began to explain. "Satsobek thinks that to be humane and gentle is to ensure our death, despite my assurances otherwise. To hand Heru over to the Royals just because they decided to check in on us is paranoia." The old woman said nothing, instead starting to walk out of the room._

"_The young man will stay. There is no vote against it." She answered finally._

"And that was about the most interesting thing that happened for the first 4 years of my being in the temple." Harry explained. Looking at the expressions of everyone, he saw nothing but utter confusion in their faces. Sighing, he asked: "Questions?"

"So, what was the Seventh House?" Hermione asked instantly. "You mentioned the House of Neith, the House of Wadjet, the House of Hathor, the House of Bast, the House of Heqet, and the House of Nephthys, but that's only six."

"And why eez ze girl, Renenet, in ze the house of Hazz-ore?" Fleur inquired. "Hazz-ore was a god-eez of peace, not of war, like ze lion god-eez."

"What did each house represent?" Remus added. "You made a comparison from them to the Hogwarts houses, so each house represents a different personality, correct?" Harry smiled.

"The seventh house was Per Aset, which was the House of Isis, obviously." He answered for Hermione's question. Turning to the quarter Veela, he continued. "According to myth, Sakhmet was a separate aspect of Hathor, and thus to not have a girl seemingly sent by the Lion Goddess herself lead the House would be an insult. And," He finished, looking at the werewolf. "Each of the houses represented not only one of the goddesses, but also what they stood for what the goddess believed in. The House of Neith was for those who wanted to excel at War, the House of Wadjet stood for protection and defense, the House of Bast represented War and Protection, the House of Heqet represented Fertility and Nature, the House of Nephthys stood for the Spiritual, the House of Isis stood for Healing and Knowledge, and the House of Hathor stood for those who wanted to Heal and Fight." There were several nods, followed by general silence. "Any other comments?"

"But there must have been more to your life than those major events." Ron spoke up with a frown. "You flashed us through your...err-Heru's childhood and teenage life, and you only brought up a couple important instances, all but one occurring almost on top of each other: Your Village being destroyed and you getting discovered and brought in by the Pharaoh, his funeral, your failed assassination (and incrimination and escape), you being found at the doorsteps of the temple, you meeting Ren (not gonna even try saying her full name), and the ladies in the temple deciding whether you had to leave or not. As important as they sound, that's not possibly everything that happened to you in that lifetime."

"Yeah, obviously." Harry responded. "But my past lives were not as exciting as what's considered a typical year, for _us_, at least." This made one of the twins snort.

"So what, you failed to nearly get yourself killed every year in your past lives?" The dark-haired wizard nodded.

"Exactly." There was another pause, interrupted by Hermione.

"So why not just tell us other moments, no matter _how_ unexciting? It can't do any harm." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well, considering there's 29 more lives to go, if I were to sit down and tell each life in seven books, then less than _half_ of you could even finish one set without being utterly bored." He continued. "Besides, I haven't even told you many events in this life, like when my first tooth fell out, the first time I was able to read, and the time when my-I-I-_**I**_," he paused for a minute. "...broke my arm."

Unfortunately, the slip-up did not go unnoticed.

"I'm gonna lock myself in a room with that bloody Monster during the Full Moon." The werewolf growled. Harry groaned.

"Remus-"

"He deserves to be put in Azkaban." Hermione spat, the rest of the group chorusing in agreement. Charlie looked conflicted about something.

"Screw it." He threw up his hands. "Harry, you can date Ginny. In fact, you can do whatever you want with Ginny (except hurt her). Merlin knows that if anyone needs a Weasley's love, it's you." While touched by the protective nature of his friends, Harry felt slightly irritated at their ramblings.

"Can I please continue?" He asked, albeit with slight sarcasm. Receiving grudging nods as responses, he smirked. "Thank you."

_Heru was cleaning the quarters of the student witches, all of whom had instruction at this time, when he felt the familiar, slinking footsteps that could only belong to one person. He grinned._

_"Hello, Priestess Renenet." The young man said, drowned out by a groan of frustration. But the once-proud consul could hear the humour in her tone._

_"How can you tell it's me?" She demanded (with light laughter in her tone), sitting on the cot closest to him as he wiped the floors. "You can always tell when it's me, and yet I'm as quiet as a cat." Her face was a perfect mixture of irritation and amusement. She looked so cute when she was bewildered._

"What?" Harry demanded, hearing snorts from most of the guys, and seeing the expressions of the girls.

"Nothing." Tonks sighed, blushing slightly.

"Please continue, our young Romeo." Fred enunciated with mocking bravado. Behind him, the three other Weasleys in the room burst into laughter. Scowling, Harry returned to telling the story.

_"That's how I know it's you, My lady." Heru chuckled, continuing to polish the floor. "Almost no other woman walks with as much cat-like grace as you do. You are only just audible enough so that I can tell you and silence apart." Ren laughed at this, reaching to stroke the hair that Heru was required to grow to seem slave-like._

_"Is that so?" She smirked. "Can you tell when one of the other priestesses, like Merit, is near?"_

_"What do you mean by that, My Lady?" They heard another ask. Turning to the doorway, they saw Merit._

_Over the four years that he had known Merit, Heru could testify that she was very much a light-hearted person. They had often exchanged jokes, and laughed at the expense of some of the more serious priestesses, and she would always treat the girls who came to be educated there with kindness, embracing them when they were sad, and getting Heru so that the two of them could try to force a smile out of the girl. She was always smiling during most days._

_This was not one of those days._

_"Is there a problem, Merit?" Ren asked with a frown, getting off the cot. The girl looked at the two of them, before answering evenly._

_"Lady Esi is in her bedroom, lying down on the cot." She said slowly._

_"Isn't that good for her?" Heru pointed out, getting to his feet. "Given her age, and how much she works?"_

_"She says she can't get up." Merit countered. Renenet instantly shot from the room, Merit behind her. All traces of a smile vanished from Heru's face. With a sinking feeling in his gut, he trailed after his two close friends._

"Guys, we're here." Bill called, coming down the stairs.

The majority of the group groaned, wanting Harry to continue the story, but the Incarnate was all too happy to leave the Port-Palace. Walking up the steps, he saw Bill waiting at the top, looking extremely tired. Reaching out to open the door, he was quickly blocked by Bill's arm. Looking into the blue eyes of the Eldest Weasley brother, Harry saw slight worry and concern. Was this about Ginny?

"Harry..." The pony-tailed Cursebreaker began uneasily. "I just want to make sure you know...it's not at all the same as it was when you lived here." The dark-haired youth gave a sigh of relief. It was not about Ginny.

"Bill, I've seen the news," He assured the redhead. "I know it's not the same Egypt. Yes, it might be a bit of a culture shock, but I can manage." Giving a nod, the Weasley let him pass, and he opened the door, stepping out to see his homeland.

Or, at least, what it had become.

The One knew Egypt had changed. He just hadn't anticipated this much.

"Where are all the buildings?" Harry demanded. "Where has everything gone?" He started to get frightened, and slightly hysterical.

"We're by the highway, Harry." Bill said with a laugh. "I couldn't expand the Port-Palace enough in a public place, so I had to do it here." Pausing to tilt his head one way, Harry could indeed hear the distant buzz of cars. Walking around behind the front entrance of the Port-Palace, he could see a small strip of never-ending horizontal pavement, gates on either side, rows of palm trees.

"That's a relief." Harry sighed, as everyone exited the Port-Palace, before Bill shrunk it down to the size of a die, and placed it in his pocket. After that, there was an awkward pause, broken by the youngest Weasley present.

"Let's get something to eat."

The group had taken lodge in some roadside hole-in-the-wall to eat some dinner. Bill was able to get everyone (including his four less-cultured brothers) to be complaint about the cuisine. After they had finished the food, Bill inquired (in Arabic, obviously) about nearby cheap motels. The waiter gave a mirthful laugh.

"Cheap?" He repeated with a smile. "You are not like other tourists then." This was, of course, also in Arabic, but Harry did not want to necessarily let on that he understood the conversation, seeing this as an advantage. Instead, he copied the look that both Hermione and Remus had adopted, showing intense concentration, like he was trying to pick out words, instead of already understanding everything. The server continued. "There's a motel not far from here. It's clean enough. Why not give it a try?" Thanking him, and giving a generous tip (in Egyptian pounds) Bill got up, the other ten following him out.

In the next moment, they had all apparated to the front door of some unidentifiable building. Pulling a key from his pocket, the ponytailed Redhead fiddled it in the lock for a few seconds, before it unlocked with a click. Opening the door, Bill stepped in before everyone else, and then ushered them inside.

"Is it supposed to be this dark?" Ron asked aloud.

"Yes, Ron, we are going to sit in the dark like this." One of the twins answered sarcastically. Ron spat back a nasty response, and soon the insults were being exchanged.

"Shut up, you three." Bill ordered. This was followed by an interval of loud footsteps clicking against a smooth floor. With a click, the lights turned on, revealing their location.

They were standing in a very large entrance hall, which had white walls, Green and golden carpeting, and an ornate electric chandelier dangling from the high-up ceiling to top it off. There was a set of long wide stairs descending down into darkness at one end of the oval-shaped room, with no gap in the wall, but rather the floor.

"Where are we?" Hermione inquired, eyes wide with amazement.

"This is a lesser known property of the Pleiades family,"

" 'O are ze Pleiades?" Fleur asked. "And why did you ask ze waiter about motels if we were just going to zis house?"

"Wanted to blend in, look like tourists." Bill stated, surveying the room. "As for the Pleiades, they were a Pureblood family that went extinct in the male line a few generations ago. The last two children born with the family name were Atlas and Pleione. Atlas died in an accident very young, and Pleione married into the Black family, bearing three daughters; Dorea, Cassiopeia, and Maia. Cassiopeia married into the Malfoy family, Maia married her own third cousin, Zodiacius Black, while Dorea married outside of the family, becoming the wife of a Pureblood by the name of Charlus."

"Charlus..._Potter_?" Harry ventured, vaguely remembering seeing the name on the Potter family tree that a Gringotts goblin had shown to him. Bill nodded.

"Dumbledore has kept this mansion, as well as the Pleiades family wealth, relatively unknown to everyone." Bill explained, as they headed down the stairs, turning the lights on. "It's been used by the Order, under permission from Sirius."

"Why hasn't _Harry_ been informed about it?" Ron demanded. "If Dumbledore's gonna use something that's _his_, he should have to get permission first."

"It's not _Harry's_, you dolt, it's the _Order's_." Bill spat.

"But it was Sirius' first, and Sirius left Harry everything." Hermione countered, as they descended into a living room similar in design to the room that was in the Port-Palace, except larger, and leading to several corridors lined with doors. "And also, as a member of the Potter family, he has access to it." The redhead Cursebreaker paused, contemplating how to respond.

"When a wizard declares the right to inherit property, he must notify the other likely inheritors, to make sure they don't want it as well. If Harry were to go and apply to inherit the property and wealth, he would have to notify the other family most likely to inherit the property."

"The Malfoys." Harry guessed, stretching out on a couch. The ponytailed man nodded again, sitting down at a table in the center of the room.

"Maia Black was the Eldest, having no children, but still married to another Black, so the Pleiades' wealth was added to 'The Black Family Collective Treasury', meaning that any of the Black Family, despite not sharing ancestry from Maia, can lay claim to it. Cassiopeia also never had children, so the Pleiades family wealth was added to 'The Malfoy Family Collective Treasury', and in the event of the end of the Black Family Line, the Malfoys might inherit it."

"But wouldn't the Potters also have claim to the property?" Tonks inquired.

"Yes, and this bears more authority then the Malfoy claim, or even the Black family claim, because Dorea and Charlus had several children of their own. So Harry has claim through lineage and Sirius' Will, while the Malfoys only bear claim through the Black and Malfoy family Collectives. However,-"

"-because I'm Halfblood, and the Potter family are blood traitors, the Malfoys can argue that I have no right to inherit Pureblood Wealth from a family other than the Potters." The incarnate hypothesized. "And because Sirius was disowned, and a convict at the time of his death, they can also say that _he_ had no right to control the wealth and it's fate."

"Precisely." Bill answered, rolling out a map and calling everyone to the table. "Now, here's the plan."

"Egypt has twenty seven governorates, or sub-regions." The Cursebreaker explained, showing the other ten Order members the map of Egypt. "If we divide into groups, we can search throughout each region's cities and towns, and we should be able to find your friend, Renenet, Harry." Harry gave a nod, seeing the flaws in the plan, but waiting for Bill to finish before voicing his concerns. "Since most Egyptians speak Arabic, and not English, we have to have at least one Arabic-speaking person in each group. Thankfully, Charlie and Tonks took Arabic with me before I went off to Egypt." At this, Bill turned to his brother and the Metamorphmagus. "How's your fluency?"

"Pretty good." Charlie answered. "I got practice in Romania with a bloke from Yemen." There was a slight hesitation, as they awaited Tonks' answer.

"Iffy for me." She admitted. "But I know enough to have basic conversations."

"So that's four groups." Bill stated. "Hermione and Tonks will go together, Fleur and Hestia will go together, Charlie and Fred and Remus will go together, and George and Ron are with me. We wake up at 5:30 tomorrow and start searching."

"What, I'm not going to be in a group?" Harry demanded. Bill looked at him nervously.

"Sort of," He answered slowly. "We're going to have a special arm band, to contact you, if we find this girl, or we think we're trailing her, or if one of our groups runs into trouble. You're going solo."

"So I'm going to be looking by myself?" The dark haired boy asked, astonished. The oldest Weasley flinched slightly, as he continued.

"Actually, Dumbledore said you're meant to stay here."

Harry really didn't take it too well.

"WHAT!?" He roared, the energy around him crackling, and also making those nearest to him back away. "I insisted that I go, because Ren will be able to identify me, but I come along and you tell me that I'm going to stay inside the _whole_ time?"

"We have these talismans." Bill answered, showing several black chords, each one strung to a sharp crystal. "By squeezing it and saying 'Emergency, Emergency, This is a Distress Call' , the crystal will glow and buzz. Apparating with it will take you to where ever the person who sent the signal is. We'll call you if we need help. Besides, Dumbledore-"

"Fuck Dumbledore!" The incarnate spat, ignoring the shocked gasps from Hermione and Fleur. "I don't care what the old fruitcake says. You won't be able to even _find_ her without me-"

"Harry," Lupin interrupted him, giving him an astonished look of anger. "Dumbledore is wise beyond your years-"

"Well, let's see." Harry growled sarcastically. "Dumbledore's got a hundred and twenty years of experience at the most, while I have more than eight _hundred_ years of experience. I wonder who's wiser?" No one answered for a while, shocked by what Harry said against the Head of the Order.

"There is no argument." Lupin said finally. "We will not go against our promise to the Headmaster. You're staying here."

Sitting alone in the living room, Harry could not help but feel amused at the bitter irony. Renenet was his lover. His. Not theirs. Time had separated them by over three thousand years. The only link between anyone alive now and Ren was Harry. In fact, without him, Ren and most of the others he had loved from past incarnations would be long dead. He had insisted on going on the search for the Priestess of Sakhmet, and yet he was still told to stay inside the mansion they were taking refuge in, like a child. The night previous, after Bill told them the plans, Harry was livid, and refused to speak to anyone. And today, he had received no warnings from the pendant that any of the four groups might've found a girl with lion eyes, or had even fall into trouble. It was getting past noon, the point where the others had promised to take a break and catch him up on what had happened, and Harry felt time slowly dribble onward.

And he was tired on top of it. He'd gone to one of the bedrooms (all of which descended lower into the ground) soon after Lupin flat-out told him that he wasn't going. Childish? Yes. But He was tired of stuff like this, with him being _expected_ to help when _not_ asked, and not being _allowed_ to help when _he_ asked. Anyways, he'd gone to bed early, and now was exhausted. Closing his eyes inch by inch, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

_Entering the room of the Mother Priestess, Heru saw that various the various Head Priestesses were standing around, silent and dejected. Except, of course, Ren, whom had gotten there before him. She was on her knees, crying at the bedside of Esi. Sitting down next to the girl, he looked at the two heads of Per Hethert. The Elder of the two was stationary and silent, lying on the bed with her eyes closed, while Renenet's eyes were brutally red, her nails unsheathed into talons, digging into the bed._

_"Is she-?"_

_"No, master Herumessu, I am not dead." The ancient woman spoke slowly, her beady black eyes shooting open. "I know to young people, the old look like they can go to Osiris' Realm in the next second, but I have not already gone." Blushing, the young man murmured an apology. "Don't apologize," She assured him. "I will be gone soon enough."_

_"What?" Ren demanded, new tears trailing down her face. "What do you mean?" The woman looked to the hysteric young woman._

_"I will most likely be dead within the week."_

Harry shot up in terror, as he felt instant shock from something ice-cold and wet.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," He heard an all-too-familiar voice say mockingly. Turning, he saw that the living room was thoroughly occupied by the others, who'd apparently returned from their visit. He'd evidently been awoken, quite unceremoniously, by the twins, who'd used some form of device to project freezing cold water onto him.

"You let them wake me up like this?" He called to the room at large. Lupin, who was seated at the table, looked up at him, a slightly distasteful look on his face. Evidently, the werewolf was still mad at Harry from what he had said last night.

"Well, since you acted like a child, we decided it was fit to wake you like a child." He answered lightly. The conversations going on went quiet, as everyone paused to see what dialogue would occur.

"Curious," Harry chuckled, looking around the room. "I don't happen to see Ren." He turned back to Remus. "Perhaps, she is hiding?" He asked in a falsely sweet voice, sugary enough to make even Umbridge gag. "Or did you just not find her?" He suggested innocently. No one answered, watching as Harry got smugger, and Remus grew angrier. "Maybe Dumbledore was right, as you're clearly having so much success in finding an immortal girl with distinct golden cat-eyes, with four groups, all whom have a person who speaks the local language, in a country where everyone looks almost exactly alike, that's not even the largest country in the Middle East _or_ Africa." Remus was fuming, and opened his mouth to respond.

"Stop, you two." Bill cut him off. "Be nice, quit arguing." He turned to Harry, looking slightly apologetic. "Sorry, Harry, we were supposed to get you for lunch, but we didn't even get to regroup until now."

It's okay, Bill." Harry assured him, changing tones very quickly. "I'm not really hungry." Without warning, his stomach suddenly rumbled. "Or, at least, I wasn't." The man grinned.

"Come on, we're all hungry. Let's go out and get some culture."

"This is what you consider culture?" Harry asked with a chuckle. The minute they were out of the mansion, Bill apparated them all. They were evidently in am alley, across the street from several dimly lit buildings. Even in the dark, however, Harry could make out a pair of glowing golden arches, making an 'M' shape that pierced the night sky.

"We took you out to eat," Lupin growled. "Be grateful." The dark-haired boy snorted at his surrogate godfather's hostile response to Harry's reaction.

"Do you want to explain McDonalds, to them, Hermione?" He asked, as they walked closer and closer to the building. The Muggleborn sighed.

"Not particularly. I still remember the time I had a McFlurry, followed by a three-day rash." Harry snorted, only to get shoved irately to the side by his brunette friend.

"I only ever was allowed to have the smallest kid's meal, and the toy would always be given to Dudley." The green-eyed wizard stated sadly. There was an awkward silence before he turned to the Eldest Weasley. "So, Bill, how'd you come across McDonald's?"

"It was my first year working in Egypt." Bill explained. "I was really hungry, but nothing was really open, until I saw this place. Yeah, I know it tastes awful, and it's unhealthy, but there's a certain quality to it that keeps drawing me back." They were now standing in the parking lot, where they looked inward to see the off-white walls and beige-tiled floors, and, of course, several people sitting inside. "So, who wants to order?" Bill asked.

A half-hour later, they were sitting with their food at three tables by the windows, which were booth on one side, and chairs that were in the open side. Harry had already started tearing apart his Chicken selects, dipping them in the barbecue sauce, while Hermione dragged fries through the layer of salt she had placed on her tray. Bill, who was contentedly munching on a burger, turned to see that everyone else had not even opened the little cardboard boxes.

"Well?" He demanded, looking at their unsure expressions. "Go on, then." Ron opened the box he had, giving the burger a puzzled expression. Picking up the bun, he cautiously opened his mouth, and slowly took a bite. Everyone stared at the youngest Weasley boy, who seemed to be ready to give the verdict.

"Muggles..." He said finally, catching the attention of everyone. "...are geniuses." With that, everyone began to eat their food, assured now that it was safe. Ron looked at his best friend's meal, frowning. "Mate, why do you have chicken instead of a burger?"

"I was a Hindu in my life in India." Harry explained, tearing a piece of the tenders for Ron to sample. "We saw cows as sacred, and didn't eat them. In Egypt, the cow was also venerated, one of the most worshipped and idolized creatures, apart from the cat." At this, he handed a chicken piece to Hermione, who only had salad. "The chicken, however, is only taboo if you don't eat any meat." Remus, obviously no longer furious at Harry, looked at his surrogate godson with interest.

"Where have you lived? In your past lives, I mean." Harry shrugged.

"All over. Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, the Americas, Polynesia, the Middle East, and so on." He stated. Lupin frowned.

"How does the time thing work?" The werewolf inquired. The incarnate frowned back.

"What 'time thing'?" The shabby-looking man paused, wondering how to explain it.

"What is your average lifespan?" He rephrased, inspecting a fry. Harry paused. Answering would definitely not lighten the mood, as it was the average age of most people present. So, he instead dismissed the question.

"Oh, you know, it varies." He answered lightly. Lupin, obviously believing him, continued.

"So, is there any specific distribution with time? Like, is there any rhyme or reason to what areas you appear in, and what time you are there till?" The incarnate thought for a minute of how to explain.

"The way I reincarnate only makes sense if you think of time as a conscious entity." He said, taking a swig from his Coke. "The times and places I appear in usually are where all the important conflicts and events happen, like Egypt at the end of the New Kingdom, or Rome after the death of Julius Caesar. There have been two major hubs, where all of the locations I lived in tend to be closer together, and the gaps between lifetimes are shorter."

"What do you mean?" Fleur stated, putting down her salad. "What are ze two hubs?"

"One was Eurasia during Classical time and antiquity." The dark-haired man stated, starting on his fries. "I had a life in Rome, Egypt, China, two in Greece, one in Persia, etcetera, etcetera. The other hub is still active."

"And where does it locate you?" Remus asked, moving forward in his seat with an interested look in his eye.

"America and England." Seeing the confused looks on their faces, Harry elaborated. "For the past 4 centuries, most of my lives have been in those two areas. Most of the lives are growing closer and closer together as time goes by. In fact, the past few lives, I've been born at the same time my past life died."

"What's so exciting about the Atlantic Ocean in the past four centuries?" Ron demanded.

"Slavery, the Wild West Era, the Victorian age.." Harry began.

"The Salem witch trials, the rise and fall of Communism, the Cold War..." Hermione trailed on.

"...Industrialization, various Independence Revolutions, the Holocaust, the Great War, and World War 2." The reincarnate finished off. He turned to the speechless werewolf. "Did I answer your question?"

After the group finished their food, they left the McDonalds, apparating back to the house the minute they were in the alley across the street. Entering the mansion and walking down into the living room, everyone got seated as Harry sat himself into an armchair.

"Now, where were we?"

_The temple was in a state of what they termed pre-grief. Most of them knew that Mother Esi was far up in her years. While there was a possibility that Esi would live past this, her death would still inevitably come soon enough._

_Ren, of course, was so angry that no one could console her. The Priestess had been the only thing she had even relatively close to a parent, and the thought of losing her was clearly unbearable to the lion-eyed witch. Even approaching her increased your chance of meeting her claw-like, retractable nails, which were very painful to be on the receiving end of._

_So, instead, Heru was sweeping the temple floor near the entrance, thinking to himself, when all of a sudden, he saw some of the young girls who were students gasp and shriek in amazement. Turning around to see what all the commotion was about, he watched as the large cluster of students gathered around the doorway, parting for a dozen armed guards, followed by a person who made his heart nearly stop._

_Duathathor was here. His sister, daughter of the House of Egypt, the girl who thought he was a cold-blooded killer whom murdered her father (who was practically his own as well), was in the temple. Did she know he had been hiding here? Had she just chosen to visit this temple at random? Hiding behind a pillar, he watched intently as Priestess Satsobek approached his former adopted sister._

_"Princess Duathathor-Hentawwy! What a wonderful surprise!" She exclaimed, bowing to the member of the royal family, everyone else around her following suit. Duathathor gestured for them to stand._

"_I would like to see your temple." She stated calmly, inspecting the area around her. "May you please show me around?" The Elderly priestess nodded, waving at the students and lesser priestesses to disperse. Still crouching behind a pillar, Heru watched as his least favorite person in the temple led his sister around. He ached to talk to her, but knew that to do so was to possibly endanger everyone in the temple._

_Heru struggled from the internal conflict he was having within his mind. To corner his sister would be to snatch the only chance he had of convincing her that he was innocent, but it spelled disaster for not just him, nor the priestesses, but the whole temple, if Duathathor didn't hear him out. His innocence shouldn't be worth so many lives._

_Heru returned to cleaning the floors, watching as his sister and Satsobek headed off to view the temple. He tried to shut out the voice convincing him to follow them, scrubbing harder as it became more persistent. Groaning in frustration, he finally got up in subtle pursuit of his sister._

_Whatever this would lead to, whether chaotic, dramatic, or apathetic, no matter what other consequences would emerge, Heru knew one thing for sure:_

_Ren was going to kill him._

_"I heard that your Eldest Priestess is dying." Heru heard Duathathor say, as the princess and the priestess paced along the alabaster hallways. "She must be very prepared to leave for Osiris' realm." At this, Satsobek gave a huff._

_"Yes, Mother Esi is readying her Ba to leave her body for the Underworld." She stated. "Me and my fellow priestesses could attempt to heal her, but first we would have to convince her, and, with all her crowning traits, Esi is still a stubborn old woman."_

_"Heal her?" Heru heard his sister inquire from behind the pillar where he was hiding. "But isn't she just passing of old age? You couldn't heal her unless you could stop her from aging. And how in All of Ra's Glory could you manage that?"_

_"Oh, believe me, Princess, there are ways to extend one's natural life through enchantments." Satsobek replied, never slowing or speeding up when she walked. "There are books authored by followers of some of the ...less-favored deities that contain such knowledge. But most consider it Dark."_

_"Such knowledge must be very Dark indeed, if it's derived from such disliked Gods." Commented Duathathor. Satsobek seemed to be thinking on an answer, because there was an interval of silence. Heru took the opportunity to draw closer to them._

_"Perhaps you are right, my Lady." The priestess responded dejectedly. "Never the less, I would use them in a heartbeat to save Esi, if she would allow me."_

_"I'm sorry if I sorrow you," His sister apologized. "It sounds like you two are very close friends." Satsobek laughed._

_"Yes, the closest." She affirmed proudly. "If Esi were a lesser friend, I might disregard her wishes and take the risk." Pausing for a minute, she gave another chuckle. "Then again, if she were a lesser friend, it might not be a risk I'd be willing to take."_

_"I pity the decision you are forced to make." The Princess sympathized. "To dishonor your friend, or to let her die. Such horrible options." For a while, nothing more was said, the two walking on in utter silence, except for the sound of their footsteps._

_"What brings you to our temple?" Satsobek inquired suddenly, abruptly changing the subject. "You have the air about you of a woman who is about to ask something that she feels she shouldn't." Duathathor stopped dead in her tracks, with the Head of Per Neith following suit. The abrupt halt in movement caught Heru off guard as he tried to bring himself closer to them, almost sending him crashing over himself._

_"I seek the man whom killed my father." The Princess answered finally. There was another long pause, as Heru watched the priestess with intent. What would Satsobek say? Would she reveal where Heru was?_

_By some miracle, however, they were interrupted by one of the lesser Priestesses, who had apparently been running._

_"Mistress Satsobek!" She gasped out, wheezing and leaning on her knees for support. "Mother E-Esi has requested you speak with her...immediately." Peeking his head from around the wall that he was hiding behind, he saw Satsobek looking extremely concerned. Turning to his sister, she smiled apologetically._

_"I'm afraid I must leave, Princess Duathathor. You can stay as long as you like, and feel free to ask the other priestesses to help you with your pursuits, but I can't assist you anymore." And with that, she left, with the other priestess following behind her._

_Heru silently thanked the gods for this opportunity. Duathathor was alone now, so perhaps he could talk to her. Eyeing his sister intently, he slowly crept up to where she stood, her back faced towards him._

_Exhaling slowly, he instantly grabbed her mouth, to stop her from screaming in fright, also locking her arms in place. As his sister struggled against him, trying to scream through his hand, Heru leaned towards her ear._

_"Duathathor, it's me," he whispered softly. Heru felt his sister freeze, not even attempting to cry for help. "I need you to know, before you arrest me, that I didn't kill Father. I would never kill him." Apparently, she didn't buy it, because she started to struggle and wriggle against his restraint, trying to scream. Sighing, Heru continued: "-And to prove it to you, I'm going to let you go right now, so you can arrest me, imprison me, have me executed, whatever. Just as long as you believe me." And with that, he let his sister go. Duathathor stumbled forward, righting herself before turning around to face him._

_Heru felt himself go cold. Being the oldest, Duathathor would constantly try to boss both him and Tentamun around when they were children. It often didn't work, as the two younger siblings would tease their sister, and call her childish names. This would get her angry, making her face distort into a visage so livid it would terrify the siblings into obeying her, out of fear that she might hurt them._

_And at that moment, on the face of Duathathor-Hentawwy, elder daughter of Pharaoh Ramessu the eleventh and Queen Tentamun, was a look of pure fury._

The room was silent for a minute, as Harry inspected the expressions of everyone present. Finally, one of the twins ventured to ask what everyone else wanted to.

"What'd she do?" Turning to the twins, the dark-haired boy gave a sigh.

"Promise you won't laugh?" He inquired, his green eyes flashing to the room at large.

"Laugh?" Bill repeated, frowning. "Why would we laugh?"

_"Ouch!-Duath, would you-OOH!- please-Arrghh! Damn!-stop hitt-EEEEE-hittng me!"_

"Oh, shut up." Harry growled, as the room dissolved into hysterical laughter.

_"I...know...You...didn't...Kill...Father...You...Idiot!" She punctuated each word with a well-placed smack on her brother's head or upper body. Aiming to hit his shoulder, Duathathor sent her fist flying through the air. Thankfully, Heru reacted quick enough to grab her fist, and duck to dodge the next punch._

_"Then why didn't you say anything?" He demanded. "That night, when I went to tell you that I had to leave, you gave me a look of pure disgust, of pure fear! Why?!" Duathathor paused for a moment, saying nothing._

_"We were afraid," she answered finally. "We were afraid that you would get hurt by the soldiers, and that there was nothing we could do but watch you die." This was not really a provisional response._

_"Then why just sit there? Why not tell them to stop?!" She didn't answer, turning her back to his shock, his sister actually began to cry._

_"Seti c-came into our rooms earlier. T-told us if we warned or helped you, h-he would m-make you s-s-suffer...W-We...I..." Unsure of how to respond to, or even comfort his sister, Heru awkwardly embraced her as she sobbed into his shoulder. He sighed inwardly. Only one thing could make this more uncomfortable._

_"Heru?" Damn._

_Turning around, he saw a bewildered-looking Renenet. Whether it was the fact that an apparently random stranger was crying on her friend or the fact that a random stranger was hugging her friend that bewildered her, he was not sure. Her face harshened, becoming...angry? Jealous? Hateful?_

_"Who is this?" She growled, eyeing Duathathor, whose features had masked themselves into one of curiousness. Before Heru could say anything, his sister removed herself from his arms, wiping her eyes before turning to Ren, bowing slightly._

_"Forgive me for intruding," Duathathor enunciated, all traces of sadness replaced with regality. "I am Princess Duathathor-Hentawwy, daughter of Ramessu XI and Tentamun." Ren's jaw dropped, her eyes flicking towards the subtle gestures of royalty on Heru's sister, specifically as the circlet upon her head. "I see you are already acquainted with Heru, my brother." The lion-eyed priestess was quick to apologize, but the Princess stopped her. "It's alright, I just would like to share a few final words with my brother."_

_Renenet, who was for once speechless, merely nodded, before walking away as quickly as possible. Smirking inwardly at how terrified his friend had looked, Heru turned back to his sister._

_"When can we meet again?" He asked her. She paused, thinking to herself._

_"Well, Seti and the Other magicians hardly let us out for more than five minutes at a time, so we should try for this night, whilst they're busy, near the market. I can get you caught up on all that's happening."_

_"Alright, then." he said with a shrug. "So, the market tonight?" His sister nodded, giving him another hug._

_"Don't be late," Duathathor commanded him. Grinning, he nodded and gave his sister a kiss on the cheek, before leaving to find Ren, feeling a maniacal glee every step of the way._

_As he strode towards Esi's room, Heru could not help but be overjoyed at the new knowledge that, after 4 years, his deepest wish had, quite impossibly, come true._

_His family knew he was innocent._

_Reaching the quarters of the Head Priestess, Heru entered to find Renenet, faced towards a circle of Head priestesses. Smiling and filled with euphoria, he grabbed her by the waist (eliciting a shriek from Ren), lifted her up, and spun her around, before letting her go._

"_I take it things went well with your sister." Ren stated with a chuckle. Heru nodded excitedly, giving her a huge hug (and ignoring the scandalized gasps that the other priestesses made)._

"_She saw you?" Satsobek inquired, her eyes narrowing. "Or did you approach her?"_

"_The latter." Heru admitted._

"_And you just decided that it would be safe to approach her?" She snarled. "You didn't think that, if the Princess had responded poorly, she would have you imprisoned? Most likely us as well?"_

_"Well, she didn't, so calm down, Priestess Satsobek." Renenet ordered. The older woman glared at Ren, ignoring her demand._

_"And who are you to order me around?" The Head of Per Neith questioned, stepping towards the lion-eyed woman. "Just because you are a favored pet among the temple does not give you power, you brat. Esi alone has authority over other Head Priestesses."_

_"Then perhaps the command Renenet just issued would be heard if it came from me, Sister Satsobek?" Came a voice from the bed. Looking on the cot, Heru saw Esi, awake and more healthy than he had seen her for the past couple of days. Evidently, the priestesses had thought she was asleep, whilst in reality, she was listening in on the discussion of her lesser fellows. Satsobek reacted first among the priestesses._

_"Mother Esi, I-"_

_"Shush, my friend." Esi commanded. To Heru's amazement, the stern priestess obeyed. Smiling slightly, the Mother Priestess turned to look at him. "Tell us of your talk with your sister, young Prince," Heru smiled, seeing Esi was feeling well enough to use the pet name she and Ren had for him, a sure sign that the elderly priestess was recovering._

_"I went to talk to my sister," Heru explained, kneeling at the priestess' beside. "She not only knows that I am innocent, but she is planning to meet me again tonight."_

_"That is most wonderful news," Esi said, nodding her head. "Do you know of your sister's intentions for meeting you tonight?" Heru thought for a minute, trying to calculate what could be going through Duathathor's mind._

_"She might be planning an overthrow of the current rulers, along with my mother and other sister, to reunify Egypt. They will want me back as a political asset to appeal to other wizards." He answered evenly. Pausing for a second, Heru had a sudden realization. "I might be going back to the palace!" The Mother Priestess grinned at his excitement._

_"Good, then we might be rid of you." She teased jokingly, weakly lifting her hand out to touch him. "You should start getting ready to meet her. Keep a sharp eye on the time." Heru nodded, lifting the priestess' hand till it pressed against his face._

_"I shall go, then." He stated, putting her hand back down and getting up to leave._

_Nothing could stop him, nothing at all. He was so filled with joy at his reuniting with his sister, and the prospect of doing the same with his other sister and his mother, that he was oblivious to everything and everyone. Otherwise, Heru might've taken notice the discontent of his closest friend._

"Ren." Charlie guessed automatically. Harry nodded.

"I didn't notice her reaction to my suggestion that I might be leaving, nor even recognize that she was malcontent with such news, until it was too late." The raven haired man explained. Hestia Jones, who had been sitting next to the Dragon Expert, frowned.

"So, what went wrong?" She inquired cautiously. The reincarnate smiled, but it was cold and filled with apathy.

"Everything."


	3. Update

Hey guys, just want to let you know that I have decided that FanFiction is no longer worthy of anyone's writing if this is how they treat people. If any are looking to see me start the story anew (I've been editing it), then you can find it on Archive of Our Own, under the same name.

/works/2037669/chapters/4423980


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